Golden hearted Salman had been shielding his driver for years

Anita Singh says her husband never discusses his work at home, and she is proud that he did not let his master of 25 years down.

Five days after Salman Khan's driver told a court he was driving the car at the time of the September 2002 hitand-run case, his wife told Mumbai Mirror that she learned about it like the rest of the world - from television news.

Speaking at their modest one-room Andheri home, Anita Singh said her husband did not mention the incident either on the night of the accident or anytime later in the ensuing 13 years.

Finding their home in the narrow by-lanes of Four Bungalow is not difficult. In the neighbourhood, Ashok is famous as 'Salman ka Driver'. The first person you ask about him takes you straight to his home on a ground-plus-one structure in a compound. The family of four has rented out the upper floor and lives in the 350-square feet ground floor tenement.

After letting us in, Anita sits on a cot beside the window, telling us she was waiting for her sons , aged 18 and 25, to come home. The elder one works in a call centre and the younger one is in Class XII.

Ashok Singh, 48, came home only once after his court appearance, that too for a few hours, she said. Asked if she had any knowledge that her husband was behind the wheel, she said, "Whatever I know was from the news channels and papers. My husband never told me anything about it. But that's his nature. He never discusses work at home. It was his decision not to tell anything, and even now it was his decision to confess before the court. I respect his decision and am proud that he did not let his master down."

Ashok Singh joined Salman Khan's family as a driver in 1989 a few months before the actor signed his debut as a lead actor, Maine Pyar Kiya. Anita said Ashok got the job after replying to a newspaper ad calling for a driver for Salman Khan. The same year, he got married to Anita. He has been with the actor since.

"He has been with Salman even before he became a star," Anita said. "I am happy that he has proved his loyalty to him. Agar aaj chup rehte toh 25 saal ki wafadaari ka koi mol nahi rehta. [If he kept quiet even today, then what is the point of 25 years of loyalty?]"

She said even on the day of his court appearance, Ashok only told her he was going to court like every other hearing.

"The rest, I saw on TV," she said. "Justice has to be done, na? If he is the culprit then he should be ready for the punishment also. And we know Salman will never leave our side. He will do everything to help us out. People do not know the real Salman. He is a man with a heart of gold. He can never see anyone in pain. Even for people who are strangers to him he donates so much."

Asked why her husband was silent for so many years, Anita said he had gone to the police station after the accident, but got scared on seeing how the police and media were hounding Salman.

"Anyone in his place would have chickened out," she said. "Salman kept saying he was not driving but no one listened. This time my husband had a chat with Salim Sir [Salman's father] and decided to tell the truth. There is speculation that Salman must have paid Ashok a huge sum to take the blame on himself but this is wrong. We don't want anything from Salman. He has been kind to us and we just couldn't see him in suffer."

Ashok spends a lot of time with Salman and doesn't come home often, she added . The couple has been living in this house for 15 years. The only time Salman visited them was during the house warming.

"Even on the day he deposed in court, Ashok came home for a few hours and left," she said. "He has now gone with Salman to his Panvel farmhouse, from where they will go to Lonavala. People target Salman just because he is a star. Agar koi aur hota toh kya media is case ko itna uthati? And even if it was Salman who did it, it was not deliberate. It happened by mistake. Why make a big issue out of it?"