Rajasthan govt challenges Salman Khan’s acquittal in arms case

Chief Judicial Magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpuroti had on January 18 this year acquitted the 51-year-old actor in the Arms Act case registered against him for possessing and using unlicensed weapon.

The Rajasthan government Tuesday filed an appeal in the Jodhpur district and sessions court challenging the acquittal of actor Salman Khan in an Arms Act case related to the alleged poaching of two blackbucks 18 years ago.

Salman Khan at Jodhpur court after being acquitted in Arm Act violation case.(Ramji Vyas/Hindustan Times)

Admitting the application filed by public prosecutor Pokar Ram Bishnoi, district and sessions judge Bhagwandas Agrawal issued a notice to Khan and listed the matter for hearing on April 21.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpuroti had on January 18 this year acquitted the 51-year-old actor in the Arms Act case registered against him for possessing and using unlicensed weapon to allegedly kill blackbucks in Jodhpur in 1998.

Read | Salman Khan says didn’t kill blackbuck, claims he was falsely accused

A case of possessing arms—.32 US-made revolver and .22 rifle — whose licence had expired, was filed at the Luni police station in Jodhpur on October 15, 1998, days after Khan was charged with poaching chinkaras in Bhawad and Ghora, and blackbucks in Kankani. The Rajasthan high court had acquitted him in case pertaining to the paoching of the two chinkaras in July last year. The blackbuck case is in the final stages of trial. In Arms Act case, the CJM court said that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against him.