A session court in Mumbai has found the Bollywood star Salman khan guilty in 2002 hit-and-run case. He has been convicted and is set to serve 5-years of rigorous imprisonment. The actor’s contention that his driver Ashok Singh was on wheels while accident had happened, was rejected. Whatever said and done, Salman was proven guilty as he was drunk and was driving the car when accident happened.
Sessions Judge DW Deshpande said, “All charges have been proved against you……….you were driving the vehicle. You were intoxicated” Deshpande said.
Salman Khan was later in the day granted interim bail but the question is – Is the actor paying the price for being a superstar? This is not the first time that a film star is involved in such a case.
In 1993 actor Raj Kumar’s son Puru Rajkumar was involed in a similar case.
There is a close similarity between Khan’s case and Puru’s case but the verdicts are extreme opposites. Salman’s rammed his car on the pavement which killed one person and injured four. Like Salman, even Puru had rammed his car in an intoxicated state over the people sleeping on the pavement in Mumbai. The accident had killed two, injured two and crippled one. Khan, charged of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, has been granted a five years of rigorous imprisonment. Puru was saved and got away by just paying an amount of Rs 1 Lakh.
There is a striking difference in the career graph of both the actors. While Khan is a superstar, Puru has only countable limited films in his kitty. Both the actors acted in a common flick ‘Veer’ in 2010 but the film won accolades for Salman’s performance and audience did not even notice Puru’s presence in the film.