“Salman was drunk,” says hit-and-run witn

"Salman was drunk," says hit-and-run witness
17th Mar 2006 11.35 IST

Actor Salman Khan was under the influence of alcohol when he rammed his car into a bakery killing one person and injuring four others on September 28, 2002, Ravindra Patil, his former bodyguard and prime witness in the hit-and-run case, told a sessions court on Thursday.

Reiterating his statement given to the police, Patil told Salman's lawyer Dipesh Mehta, during cross-examination that he had cautioned Salman not to drive in a rash manner or else he would meet with an accident but the actor did not pay heed to his advice.

Although Patil had not stated this in the FIR lodged by him after the incident, he had improved his statement eight days later by telling police that the actor was under the influence of alcohol and also that he had cautioned Salman against rash driving.

During cross-examination, the witness agreed with defence lawyer that the improvement made by him in his statement to police was indeed correct.

However, he admitted that a newspaper report quoting him about Salman taking a sharp turn to dodge an electric pole just before the accident was also correct.

The witness denied that he was 'tutored' by police to implicate Salman and also refuted allegations that he had merely signed the improved statement at the instance of police.

Following his failure to appear before the court for cross-examination, the court had issued non-bailable warrant against Patil. Despite the non-bailable warrants, he did not appear before the court on four occasions and was arrested by police from Mahabaleshwar on March 11.

Since then he was in custody and was produced before the court on Thursday.