Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who spent the last two nights in Jodhpur Central Jail after being found guilty in a 20-year-old blackbuck poaching case, has been granted bail by a court in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur. Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi, who began hearing his bail request this morning for the second day, announced his decision just after lunch.
The Jodhpur sessions court on Saturday granted bail to the Bollywood actor in the blackbuck poaching case of 1998 with two bonds of Rs 50,000 each. Hearing Khan’s bail plea on Friday, Jodhpur District and Sessions Court Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi had reserved his judgment until Saturday.
A day before, a Jodhpur court had convicted the Bollywood star for killing two blackbucks, an endangered species, 19 years ago while shooting for the film Hum Saath Saath Hain, and sentenced him to five years in jail.
The blackbuck, an endangered species, is protected under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Act and the punishment for hunting blackbuck can be up to six years. Salman Khan has also been accused of killing two chinkaras and a blackbuck in September 1998. In all, three cases of poaching and one under the Arms Act were registered against Salman Khan in 1998.
