Arms Act case: Salman Khan appears in Jodhpur court

Actor Salman Khan appeared before a  district and sessions court in Jodhpur on Friday in connection with an Arms Act case in which he was acquitted in January.

The actor visited the court on 4 August to sign bail bonds of a 19-year-old Arms Act case. According to Khan's lawyer, the actor appeared before the court at around 12.45 PM, where he signed a bail bond of Rs 20,000 and immediately left after that. The next hearing for the case has been scheduled on 5 October 2017.

Khan was acquitted by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate in February this year under the Arms Act case on the grounds of benefit of the doubt. In March, the Rajasthan government had also appealed against his acquittal. In response to which he had also filed a bail bond in the higher court, that of the District and Sessions judge, in the case.

Khan's lawyer Hastimal Saraswat said, "Salman was scheduled to deposit a bail bond of Rs 20,000 on Friday. There were no questions and answers held.  While Khan was acquitted due to insufficient evidence on January 18, the prosecution appealed the decision. The court set October 5 to hear that prosecution appeal.

Earlier on June 22, Khan was scheduled to appear for verification of bail bonds before the appellate court. But he sought an exemption from personal appearance on the basis of security reasons.

The incident dates back to October 1, 1998, when five Bollywood actors Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam were allegedly seen hunting two blackbucks during the shooting for movie ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ at  Kankani village of Rajasthan.

In February 2017, the actor was acquitted by a Jodhpur court in an Arms Act case linked to the killing of a blackbuck 18 years ago.