Salman Khan to appear before court amid death threat

Bollywood actor Salman Khan will appear before a Jodhpur court in the blackbuck poaching case on Friday amid a death threat by a gangster.

The death threat was issued by gangster 'Garry Shooter', who belongs to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, through a Facebook post on September 16.

The actor had filed a plea against his conviction by a lower court, which had sentenced him to five years in jail.

During a hearing on July 4, Sessions Court Judge Chandra Kumar Songara had directed him to appear before the court on September 27, failing which his bail plea may be cancelled.

However, there are apprehensions that the actor may not appear though police have claimed to put in place adequate security measures.

"Due to a similar threat by gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in February last year, Khan had shelved his plan of appearing before the court," said a police official.

Prosecution counsel Mahipal Bishnoi said the court had verbally asked Khan's counsel to make him appear in the court during the last hearing.

The actor has not appeared before the court since May last year when he was granted bail.

During the last hearing, the defence counsel had sought exemption for Khan from an appearance in court, after which the court asked the actor to be present before it as he had been absent since the beginning of the hearing on his plea.

Salman Khan is accused of killing two blackbucks during the shooting of a film in Jodhpur in 1998.