Friday, March 24 2006 16:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The prosecution has informed a local court that it would examine 60 witnesses in the hit-and-run case involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan.

Of the 60 witnesses, two have already been examined. They are Ravindra Patil and Ramasray Pandey, both of whom had witnessed the incident. The third witness would depose on March 31, prosecution sources told sources.

Salman Khan is accused of killing a person and injuring four others when he rammed his car into a bakery in suburban Bandra on September 28, 2002.

Pandey, who was examined yesterday (Mar 23 2006), told the court that he had heard a loud noise when he was sleeping in his shop on that day. He saw a crowd rushing towards a white land cruiser which had rammed into a bakery and also saw actor Salman Khan getting down along with two persons from the car.

The witness said that when the crowd went to 'confront' the persons who got down from the car, Salman and another person ran away while the third one stayed put at the accident site and was later identified as Ravindra Patil, the actor's bodyguard.

During cross examination, however, the witness fumbled when the actor's lawyer Dipesh Mehta questioned him as to why he had waited for four days to approach the police and whether he had seen the actor driving the car. To these questions, Pandey said he could not remember.

Earlier, Ravindra Patil had deposed before the court saying that he was accompanying Salman in the car when he 'rammed' his car into the bakery. He also told the court that he had 'warned' the actor not to drive in a rash manner or else he would meet with an accident. But the actor did not pay heed to his advice, he told the court.