Delivering the verdict in the case that dragged on for over 12 years, sessions court judge D W Deshpande said "all charges" against the actor have been proved, which included the stringent charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, besides various other offences, including rash and negligent driving and driving under influence of liquor.
The judge held that the actor also did not have a driving licence. The prosecution had alleged that Khan was driving without holding a licence and, to buttress its charge, produced RTO records to show that the actor had procured a licence only in 2004, two years after the tragedy.
Asked if he had to say anything about the verdict, Salman, who fought back tears, denied the charge that he was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident.
The 49-year-old actor had earlier been tried for the lesser offence of causing death by rash and negligent driving which attracts a lighter punishment of imprisonment upto two years.
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After examining several witnesses, a Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate had terminated the trial midway in 2012 and slapped the serious charge of culpable homicide against the actor before committing the matter to the sessions court.