Rajasthan judge refuses to hear Salman's bail plea

Jodhpur, Aug 29 (IANS) Rajasthan High Court judge G.K. Vyas Wednesday refused to hear jailed Bollywood actor Salman Khan's revision and bail pleas and ordered that it be transferred to another bench.

Vyas did not hear the actor's petition as he was earlier the counsel for the forest department in all poaching cases against the star.

Salman has already spent four nights at the central jail in Jodhpur. The celebrity prisoner, who was sentenced to five years in prison for hunting an endangered deer nine years ago in a village near here, surrendered himself to Rajasthan Police Saturday following an arrest warrant.

In his plea, Salman has stated that there was no evidence against him in the case and his driver Harish Dulani's testimony in court was not trustworthy, as he has been changing his statements frequently.

Salman has been convicted of poaching a chinkara deer at the Ghoda farm near Jodhpur on the night of Sep 28, 1998, while filming Sooraj Barjatya's blockbuster 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'.

On Friday, the district and sessions court here had dismissed the actor's plea against the five-year jail term handed by the chief judicial magistrate's court.

In April last year, Salman had filed an appeal in the district and sessions court against the judgement of the lower court. The court had found Salman guilty under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

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