Blackbuck case: Key witness fails to appear in court

A key witness in the blackbuck poaching case, allegedly involving Salman Khan, on Monday failed to appear in court for recording his statement, saying he is "mentally unfit" for this.

Chogaram, 65, was to appear in the court for recording his statement in relation to the case against Khan for alleged poaching of two blackbucks in Kankani in October, 1998.

"His son appeared in the court, pleading that his father was mentally unfit to give his statement so he should be dropped from the list of witnesses," said Mahipal Bishnoi, one of the prosecution counsels, who moved an application in the court to this effect.

He also produced medical documents pertaining to his father's treatment in Jodhpur and Ahmedabad, but magistrate Shivani Bhatnagar Johari sought a detailed medical report on Chogarma's health status on July 27 on whether he could give statements in the court or not.

Khan's counsel H M Saraswat said he would wait for the report to be produced in the court.

"Since the court has sought a detailed medical report on the health status of Chogaram, we would wait for the report before proceeding further," he said.

Chogaram is an eyewitness in both the Kankani poaching and Arms Act cases against Khan. He had allegedly followed the vehicle of the actor and other film stars, who are co-accused in the case, after hearing the gun shots in his village and said to have tried to stop him.

Besides this, other two prosecution witnesses, Sagar Ram and the then forest officer Lalit Boda, have been issued warning for not appearing in the court. The magistrate ordered them to appear in the court on the next hearing on July 27.