Key witness in Salman case turns hostile

A prime witness in the hit-and-run case involving actor Salman Khan on Wednesday did not support the prosecution in the trial court and was declared hostile.

Mohammed Muslim Niyat Shaikh, who was injured when the actor allegedly rammed his car into a bakery on September 28, 2002, told the court that he had not seen the person on the wheel as he was hurt in the mishap and that passersby had surrounded him.

The prosecution immediately declared him hostile and Salman's lawyer Dipesh Mehta then cross examined him.

The witness told Mehta that he was injured in leg and he could not see the person who was driving the car when the mishap occurred. On January 3, prosecution would examine another witness who was also injured in the mishap.

One person was killed and four injured when actor Salman Khan allegedly rammed his car into the bakery on the ill-fated day.

Of the 60 witnesses, six have already deposed. Among them were Ravindra Patil and Ramasray Pandey. Patil was Salman's bodyguard and had accompanied him when the actor met with the accident, while Pandey was sleeping in a shop adjacent to the accident site.

The third witness was the one who had prepared panchnama (report) at the site of the accident and the fourth was Shaikh Ibrahim, cousin of the deceased, Narulla Salim Shaikh. The fifth, Mohammed Abdul Rauf Shaikh, deposed on June 29, while Mohammed Muslim Niyat Shaikh was examined on Thursday.

Earlier, witness Mohammed Abdul Rauf Shaikh, had contradicted his police statement during his deposition saying he and few others were sleeping on the footpath when a car had rammed into the bakery injuring them.

While giving evidence, Shaikh had disowned a crucial portion of his police statement, saying he had not seen Salman getting down from the driver's seat of the car. In a statement to police earlier, he said he had seen the actor getting down from the driver's seat after the mishap.

Shaikh had told the court he had heard people saying Salman come out of the car but he himself did not see the actor as he was underneath the vehicle which rammed into the bakery shop.