Blackbuck case: Hearing adjourned to July 17

A Jodhpur court on Monday adjourned the hearing of actor Salman Khan’s plea challenging the trial court order sentencing him to a five-year jail term in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case. The next hearing will be held on July 17.

A month after Salman was granted bail, the 52-year-old actor appeared before the Jodhpur court on Monday in connection with the suspension of the sentence. 

District and Sessions Judge Chandra Kumar Songara adjourned the hearing after the defence counsel Mahesh Bora sought time to begin arguments. Salman's lawyer has made a request in the court to exempt the actor from personal presence for hearings.

"The petition for Salman's personal exemption has been submitted in the CJM Court. His presence is not necessary during the next hearing," said Bohra.

The actor arrived in Jodhpur on Sunday along with his sisters Alvira and Arpita, and his bodyguard Shera.
 
The court sentenced Salman to five years in jail but acquitted his co-actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre. 

The fifth accused, Dushyant Singh, a local, was also acquitted. 

Salman spent two nights in Jodhpur Central jail and was granted bail by a Jodhpur sessions court on April 7.

The actor was sent to prison for shooting and killing blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of October 1, 1998, while shooting for the film "Hum Saath Saath Hain".