star Salman Khan, known for his bulging biceps and tantrums outside camera, faces this week jail if convicted of driving drunk homeless men sleeping over 12 years ago, killing one of them.
Khan, star of blockbusters Dabangg and Bodyguard (Fearless), is accused of losing control of his truck after a night of drinking rum and cocktails in an upscale bar in the entertainment capital of India in Mumbai 2002 and flee the scene.
After years of court hearings and legal holdups, a judge in Mumbai on Wednesday is expected to finally deliver its verdict on the 49-year-old actor charged with manslaughter.
A household name in India with millions of fans, Khan faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted after a trial in which every twist has been followed by the country’s media.
Pradeep Gharat prosecutor said he had submitted the case as best he could to Mumbai sessions court judge, adding that “we can only hope, but can not predict” a conviction.
“I’m 100% sure I’ve done my job and duty to the best of my ability,” Gharat said Monday.
Khan pleaded not guilty at the trial, saying that his driver was responsible for the nighttime accident in which his Toyota Land Cruiser mounted the pavement where five men were sleeping outside a bakery in the upmarket suburb of Bandra West.
A police officer attached to the security detachment Khan said in his statement to police that the actor drunk lost control of the car while driving about 90 kilometers (55 miles) per hour.
“People were sleeping on the sidewalk. Salman and [his cousin] Kamaal fled the scene,” the officer, who died in 2007 of tuberculosis, he said.
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One of the sleeping workers injured in the accident, said in his statement: “Salman was so drunk he fell stood up, but fell back and then ran away ….”.
But Khan’s lawyers said the action and romantic comedy stars were, in fact, drinking water all night and had left the driver’s seat after the crash because the passenger side door had been damaged.
They also said that the homeless man was killed during an operation to move the car, rather than the accident itself, when the top is down and fell on him.
His driver took the stand last month and said it crashed after the left front tire burst, so that the steering and braking difficult.
Khan, son of a film writer, has participated in over 100 films and television shows since its first Maine Pyar Kiya success (I Fell in Love) in the 1980s.
But bodybuilding actor is no stranger to controversy off the screen and in 1998 spent more than a week in jail for killing indigenous endangered gazelles.
Khan, who has never married, has also been in the news over the years, including for allegedly assaulting former Miss World and Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai with whom he had a long relationship.
Observers said that given its large fan base, Khan was likely to continue his career, even if found guilty, if he avoided a long prison sentence.
“If it gets a short term, given her fan following will be easy for him to rebound,” said film critic BB Nagpal. “But certainly 10 years it became a turning point in his career.”
