Thursday, August 3 2006 12:32 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: A court here hearing a hit-and-run case involving actor Salman Khan yesterday (Aug 2, 2006) allowed the prosecution to cross-examine a key witness who had contradicted a statement made to police during his deposition.

The witness, Mohammed Abdulla Rauf Shaikh, is one of four persons who was injured in the mishap when the actor allegedly rammed his car into a bakery in suburban Bandra on September 28, 2002.

Earlier, Shaikh had told the court that he and a few others were sleeping on the footpath when a car had hit the bakery, injuring them.

While giving evidence in court, Shaikh had disowned a crucial portion of his earlier statement to the police, saying he had not seen Salman getting out from the driver's seat of the car. In his statement to police, however, he had said he had seen the actor getting out from the driver's seat after the accident.

Shaikh had told the court that he had heard people saying Salman car se bahar niklo (Salman come out of the car) but he himself did not see the actor as he was underneath the vehicle that rammed into the bakery.

The prosecution said today that it would like to cross- examine Shaikh on this point and sought to recall him to the box. The court accepted its plea and posted the matter for hearing on August 10.

Salman is charged with killing one person and injuring four others in the incident.

Another key witness, who was to depose for the first time today, did not show up and his examination will be done after the cross-examination of Shaikh, prosecution sources said.

In keeping with a high court directive, the actor had in 2002 deposited Rs 10 lakhs with the registrar to be paid as compensation to the victims.

Of the 60 witnesses, five have already deposed. Among them are Ravindra Patil and Ramasray Pandey, who had witnessed the incident. Patil was Salman's bodyguard and was with the actor at the time of the accident, while Pandey was sleeping in a shop near the site of the accident.

The third witness was the one who had prepared the panchnama at the site and the fourth was Shaikh Ibrahim, a cousin of the dead man, Narulla Salim Shaikh. The fifth witness, Mohammed Abdul Rauf Shaikh, deposed on June 29.