MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Salman Khan faces the possibility of being tried for culpable homicide in a decade-old hit-and-run, a legal source with direct knowledge of the case said on Monday. A local Mumbai court ruled on Monday that the hit-and-run case would be tried in the sessions court and not the magistrate court where it was being heard earlier.The prosecution had asked for the case to be transferred to the sessions court as the magistrate court does not have the jurisdiction to try cases of culpable homicide.
“Salman Khan had asked for a revision of that order but the court has rejected that, which means the trial will be held in the sessions court and he could be tried for culpable homicide,” the legal source told Reuters.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail. Khan was earlier being tried on the lesser charge of death by negligence which could attract a maximum prison term of two years.
The 47-year-old actor is accused of running his SUV on the pavement near a bakery in the suburb of Bandra in Mumbai on September 28, 2002, killing one person and injuring four others.
Khan is arguably Bollywood’s most successful actor in recent years, with five of his films making more than a billion rupees in domestic ticket sales.
