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Bollywood Star Salman Khan Convicted In Hit-And-Run Case

Bollywood actor Salman Khan leaves the Mumbai Sessions Court after the verdict against him on Wednesday. Khan, 49, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of driving a vehicle over five men sleeping on a sidewalk, killing one of them.
Rajanish Kakade
/
AP
Bollywood actor Salman Khan leaves the Mumbai Sessions Court after the verdict against him on Wednesday. Khan, 49, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of driving a vehicle over five men sleeping on a sidewalk, killing one of them.

Bollywood star Salman Khan was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for driving while drunk over a group of people sleeping on a sidewalk in 2002, killing one of them. A court in Mumbai, India, granted the 49-year-old Khan bail until Friday.

Sessions Court Judge D.W. Deshpande found Khan guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced him to five years in prison.

"Taking stock of the evidence the court holds that you were driving the vehicle," he said. "The court also holds that you were under intoxication. All the charges against you are proved."

India's legal system does not use juries; innocence (or guilt) is determined by the judge.

Khan has maintained that he was neither drunk on the night of the incident nor driving his Toyota Land Cruiser. Several witnesses said he was driving the vehicle.

"Finally, justice has been done," lawyer Abha Singh, a petitioner in the case, told reporters. "The law has been upheld."

Khan, one of India's most recognizable and bankable movie stars, is also on bail in a separate case involving the shooting of an endangered black buck.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Krishnadev Calamur is NPR's deputy Washington editor. In this role, he helps oversee planning of the Washington desk's news coverage. He also edits NPR's Supreme Court coverage. Previously, Calamur was an editor and staff writer at The Atlantic. This is his second stint at NPR, having previously worked on NPR's website from 2008-15. Calamur received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.