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'I was Driving the Car,' Actor Salman Khan's Driver Says in Mumbai Court on 2002 Hit-and-Run Case
All India | NDTV.com | Updated: March 30, 2015 14:22 IST
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One person was killed and four people were injured in the accident.
The driver, Ashok, told the court that the police did not listen to him when he narrated the incident.
His statement corroborates what the 49-year-old actor told the court on Friday, giving his version of the case for the first time in a court.
He denied his bodyguard Ravindra Patil's statement that despite warnings he drove his Toyota Land Cruiser at a high speed, in a drunk state, in the early hours of September 28, 2002, and lost control.
"My left door was jammed so I could not open it," Mr Khan said when the court asked him to respond to multiple witnesses saying he exited from the driver's side.
He admitted to sitting on the driver's seat only briefly when one driver got out and another, Ashok, took over.
Mr Khan did not deny that he was at a bar with brother Sohail before the accident but said he only drank water and never ordered any cocktails, as indicated by bills. The bills made out for drinks and food, he said, were not his.
The actor also disputed accounts that he ran away after the accident.
"I instructed the driver to inform the police. I remained at the spot for 15 minutes or more," he told the court.
One of the most bankable stars in the Hindi film industry, Mr Khan is being tried for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in jail. He earlier faced a lesser charge of death by negligence, for which the punishment is a maximum of two years in jail.
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