High Court suspends Salman Khan’s sentence

Mumbai High Court on Friday suspended a five-year sentence handed down to Salman Khan in a 2002 hit and run case.

Khan’s sentence has been suspended pending appeal. The Bollywood actor will remain free on bail while he files an appeal in court.

Salman Khan was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison for killing a homeless man with his SUV in a 2002 hit-and-run after a night out drinking at an upmarket bar.

Judge DW Deshpande found Khan guilty of culpable homicide and other charges for driving his Land Cruiser into a group of homeless men sleeping rough in suburban Mumbai, rejecting the actor´s claim his driver was to blame.

“After going through the arguments put forth by both sides, I have come to the conclusion that five years is proper punishment,” Deshpande told the packed sessions court.

Lawyers for the actor, however, managed to get a two-day interim bail from the Mumbai High Court after arguing that they had not yet received a detailed copy of the verdict, without which a defendant cannot be sent to jail.

Khan has always denied being behind the wheel, but the conviction and sentence are likely to hit the career of one of the Indian movie industry´s biggest box-office stars.

The 49-year-old looked stunned and tired as the sentence was read out, sinking into his chair as his family gathered around, according to an AFP reporter in the court.

Khan, the star of blockbusters such as “Dabangg” (Fearless), fled the scene of the crash that left one man dead and several others injured.