Salman Khan in trouble

Salman Khan in trouble

The actor is involved in four cases related to the blackbuck/chinkara poaching. He has been accused of killing two chinkaras at Bhavad village in Rajasthan in September 1998, a chinkara at the Ghoda farms in the State the next month and two blackbucks near Kankani village in the State in the same month. In addition, he is also accused of using two firearms with alleged expired licences.

The court in Jodhpur also fined him 10,000 rupees ($154; £109) for the crime. He will now be taken to jail.Khan killed the two blackbucks, a protected species, in the western state of Rajasthan while shooting a film.Four other actors who starred with him in the movie and were also charged with the offence have been acquitted.Khan, 52, can appeal against the verdict, but in a higher court.His co-stars from the film, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre who were allegedly also present at the time of the poaching, have been acquitted by the court. The arguments over his sentencing are still underway. Salman was first accused of poaching in September 1998.Actor Salman Khan reached Jodhpur on April 4 along with sisters Arpita Khan and Alvira Khan. He arrived at the Jodhpur court today morning. While the prosecution has asked for maximum punishment for Salman, the actor will be taken to Jodhpur Central Jail post the sentencing. Arguments are currently underway on the quantum of his sentence. Khan’s lawyer are pleading for minimum sentence.

A long time ago, much before Salman became the resident demi-god of Indian moviegoers, a very senior journalist — famous for his withering honesty — interviewed the buffest Khan of Bollywood. “He’s a harmless guy,” the journalist later recalled to a bunch of his friends, “definitely not very bright”.

Salman Khan was never considered the smartest cookie in the tin, but the 51-year-old actor seems to have hit a stride of late, milking a long-established, mythical 'real life' personality — that of a simpleton with a golden heart — in a string of gargantuan hits like Bodyguard, Bajranji Bhaijaan and Sultan.

With Tubelight, his third project with director Kabir Khan (it is the story of a man child on a mission to find his brother who goes missing during the Indo-China war) yet another film has cashed in on Bhai’s artfully cultivated screen image.