Court acquits Salman Khan in hit-and-run case

Mumbai: Shares of Mandhana Industries, the entity associated with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, surged almost 12 per cent in intra-day trade today, after the Bombay High Court acquitted the actor of all the charges in the 13-year-old hit-and-run case.

MUMBAI, India (AP) - An appeal court acquitted Bollywood star Salman Khan on Thursday in a drunken-driving, hit-and-run case from more than a decade ago.

The Bombay High Court acquited of all charges Salman Khan his ladylove Iulia really broke down and while all his supporters and followers observed this verdict.

"It is shocking, but I will reserve my comment till I see the entire judgement copy, " Gharat, who had secured a five-year jail sentence for the actor, said.

Patil, who died in 2007, had insisted that Khan was behind the wheel and speeding. "Salman Khan is acquitted of all charges", news agency AFP quoted the Bombay high court judge Anil Ramchandra Joshi as saying.

Post-verdict, Salman completed various legal formalities in the court, including executing a bond in case the prosecution made a decision to appeal in the case, before he could walk out a free man, said Desai.

The court narrated the many "unexplained and glaring anomalies" in the evidence, according to the local media reports.

Salman Khan was accused of having drunkenly driving over pavement dwellers, killing one, in September 2002.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the government will decide on whether to appeal against the judgement after going through the court's order.

The prosecution can challenge the Thursday verdict before the Indian Supreme Court.

Though, the acceptance shouldn't be hard given that the verdict was very much in Khan's favour. For example, in the FIR filed soon after the mishap, Ravindra Patil, former police bodyguard of the actor, did not implicate Salman but in the statement before Magistrate he said that Salman was driving under the influence of liquor.