Wednesday’s guilty verdict in the 2002 hit-and-run case is not the end of Salman Khan’s legal troubles as the actor has four more criminal cases pending in courts in Rajasthan.
Khan’s conviction in two poaching cases are under appeal in the Rajasthan high court while a third case of poaching and one of illegal use of arms are yet to be decided by the chief judicial magistrate in Jodhpur.
In the two cases under appeal, Khan was found guilty in 2006 of hunting endangered chinkaras near Jodhpur while filming Hum Saath Saath Hain in 1998. He was sentenced to a year in jail in the first case, as it was his first offence, but received a harsher five-year term in the second with the judge calling him a “repeat offender”. The actor appealed both verdicts and was let out on bail.
The third poaching case, where he is accused of killing endangered black bucks during the same period in 1998, comes up for hearing on May 28. His co-stars Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Neelam and Satish Shah have also been charged in this case.
{{/usCountry}}The third poaching case, where he is accused of killing endangered black bucks during the same period in 1998, comes up for hearing on May 28. His co-stars Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Neelam and Satish Shah have also been charged in this case.
{{/usCountry}}Watch:Hit-and-run 2002: Flashpoints of Salman Khan's 'controversial' career
Things are also heating up in the related arms act case — in which Khan is accused of using a weapon with an expired licence — with the prosecution calling four new witnesses. It comes up for hearing on May 14.
These court dates mean Khan barely has any time to catch his breath after his conviction on Wednesday on culpable homicide charges for killing a pavement dweller in Mumbai while driving drunk.
If found guilty in the Arms Act case, Salman could be sentenced up to seven years in jail. The maximum sentence for shooting a black buck in India is three years behind bars.
Add to this the five years handed down by the Mumbai sessions court and the actor, who evaded jail for 15 years, may well spend a decade behind bars.
Read | Salman Khan verdict: How the hit-and-run case unfolded