“

Giving him the benefit of doubt, a Jodhpur Court has acquitted actor  Salman Khan of charges under the Arms Act case against him in the alleged poaching of two black bucks.

The decision came as the prosecution failed to provide conclusive evidence against him in the 18-year-old case. The prosecution counsel BS Bhati said they would appeal against the acquittal in the Sessions Court. In the 102-page judgment, the Chief Judicial Magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit said that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges under sections 3/25 and 3/27 of the Indian Arms Act.
 A case against the Bollywood actor was registered in October 1998 for his alleged use and possession of arms with an expired license during the alleged poaching of two black bucks in Kankani village.

Salman Khan’s 0.22 rifle and 0.32 revolver had expired licenses and cases were filed under Sections 3/25 and 3/27. The maximum sentence in Section 3/25 is usually three years while Section 3/27 has seven years as the maximum sentence.Salman Khan was present in the court of CJM (Jodhpur), where the verdict was pronounced. He arrived in Jodhpur yesterday with his sister Alvira and his advocates.The defense counsel H M Saraswat said “”the court admitted our arguments that Khan was framed in this case as he had no concrete evidence against him.””According to the prosecution counsel Bhawani Singh Bhati, the arguments in the case were completed on January 9 in the trial court and the order had been reserved by the magistrate to be pronounced today.

Of the four cases against him, Salman Khan has already been acquitted in two cases of poaching by the High Court while a third case of poaching is in its final stage.”