Salman Khan receives another blow in the hit and run case!

Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has received another blow in the hit and run case after the police officer who registered the case against the Salman Khan for alleged rash and negligent driving on the fateful night of September 29, 2002 informed the police that after the gruesome accident Salman Khan had gone underground fearing outcome of the offense. However later the next day he had surrendered himself at the police station.

Rajendra Kadam, one of the investigating officers who had filled the FIR informed the court, “I was on night duty on the day of the mishap. I got a telephone call about the accident and rushed to the spot on a motorbike along with a police constable.” 

He added, “When I reached, I did not find Salman Khan on the spot. Instead, I found angry crowd abusing and beating Khan’s police bodyguard Ravindra Patil. We pulled out Patil from the crowd and he narrated the ordeal and spoke about the brutal accident. Thus we registered the FIR on the basis of complaint filed by Constable Ravindra Patil who was then Khan’s bodyguard and was sitting next to Salman Khan during the mishap.”

“I then went to Salman Khan’s house in nearby Galaxy apartments but even there the Salman was not traced. Probably Salman was afraid of the crime and went underground,” he claimed. 

On being quizzed by prosecutor Pradeep Gharat about the scene of crime, Kadam said, “The accident was really horrifying with five persons entangled and trapped beneath the car. One of them was dead. Of the remaining four, two were severely injured and the rest had sustained minor injuries. All the five had to be removed lifting the car with the help of a crane.” 

During his cross-examination by Khan’s lawyer Shivade, Kadam said that he reached the accident spot at 2.50 AM and drew a panchnama between 3.05 AM and 4.20 AM. 

Salman Khan, dressed in blue jeans and blue shirt, attended the proceeding. He sat in the front row along with his sister Alvira. The 49-year-old actor keenly watched the proceedings and talked to his lawyer Srikant Shivade occasionally.

The cross-examination would continue tomorrow. A fresh trial is being conducted on a day-to-day basis in a sessions court after the aggravated charge of culpable homicide was invoked which provides for imprisonment up to ten years.

Amitabh Bachchan’s admiration for South Film industry

Star of Millennium Amiatbh Bachchan will soon be seen draped in the traditional Southern attire of silk dhoti and veshti or mandu along with top Southern superstars Prabhu, Vikram Prabhu, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Shiva Rajkumar and Manju Warrier in an upcoming commercial. 

Elated at being among the sons of great legends of South Cinema, Amitabh Bachchan in his blog wrote, "And today with the greats of Southern India .. all of them sons of ‘The Greats’ in the early years of my career. Prabhu - son of the great Shivaji Ganesan from Tamil cinema, Vikram - Prabhu's son, Shiva, the son of the great Rajkumar from Karnataka cinema, Nagarjun - son the great Akkineni Nageshwar Rao, of Telugu cinema and Manju Warrior, the darling of Malayalam cinema."

Recalling his early days, when Amitabh Bachchan was rejected by Bollywood it was South film industry that came to his rescue. The first film that came his way was director Ravikant Nagaich’s PYAR KI KAHANI, which was a remake of Tamil film KAI KODUTHA DEIVAM, staring the legendary South Superstar Shivaji Ganesan. 

Applauding thespian Shivaji Ganesan, Bachchan candidly confesses, “I had great difficulty in playing the complex role played so effortlessly by Ganesan Sir.” He added, “Frankly speaking I was not even able to reach an inch of the work that was done so marvelously by Shivaji Sir in the original.” 

Bachchan became his fan instantly and revered the legend to such an extent that whenever he met Shivaji Ganesan, he would touch his feet!

"My admiration for the Southern Film Industry needs no endorsement...I have had great respect for the thespians and the giants of the Industry - all of whom I had the great privilege to spend time with," claimed Bachchan in his blog. 

True indeed because readers may recall that actually it was S. Ramanathan, famous South director, who exploited the histrionics of Amitabh Bachchan excellently in his film BOMBAY TO GOA that opened the doors for ZANJEER, the movie that made Bachchan a superstar overnight. 

In fact writers Salim Javed, who scripted ZANJEER, were highly impressed by Bachchan’s action sequences in BOMBAY TO GOA and persuaded film director Prakash Mehra to experiment and he took the risk. 

Rest is history. Thus Amitabh Bachchan won his first ticket to stardom thanks to South director S. Ramanathan.