A sessions court in Jodhpur passed a judgement on Thursday morning and sentenced the bollywood megastar Salman Khan to five years in jail for his infamous blackbuck hunts and poaching of two antelopes at Kankani village in 1998.The court also imposed a fine of 10000 rupees on the actor after which he was taken to the Central Jail in Jodhpur.

Khan had been involved in four cases related to poaching/hunting of wild animals. He was accused of killing two chinkaras at Bhavad village of Rajasthan in September 1998 and two blackbucks in Kankani village in the same month along with being convicted for using two firearms with expired licence.Four actors namely Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam and a local travel agent , were also convicted alongside Khan for unlawful assembly but later acquitted by the court on the basis of insufficient evidence.However actor Salman Khan pleaded “not guilty” on friday morning claiming that all the evidences against him were false and the forest department was trying to frame him and making up the story “for publicity”.

Salman Khan’s legal counsel , Anand Desai , said that they will appeal to the sessions court to seek relief for the actor. He affirmed that the the decision ” came as a surprise” as the evidences and facts presented in this case are same as the cases in which Salman has been acquitted by the Hon’ble Court.He added ” We respect the decision of the Hon’ble Court. While we are studying the judgement it just came as a surprise, as the entire investigation, and facts of this case were the same as those for which Salman has been acquitted by the Hon’ble High Court of Rajasthan in two cases, and even by the Hon’ble CJM in the Arms Act matter for the alleged offence on the very same night as is the subject matter of the present case. ”

Drawing towards the four actors and the local agent , who were declared innocent because of the lack of evidence and had the benefit of doubt , he said ” Also, in the present case the Hon’ble Court has acquitted all the 5 co-accused which would imply that Salman was out hunting alone in the middle of the night in a remote area outside Jodhpur. We have preferred an appeal to the Hon’ble Sessions Court and applied for an urgent hearing today. The Hon’ble Sessions Court will hear the appeal for suspension of the sentence / bail at 1030 tomorrow,” he said in a statement.

The Dabangg star was accompanied by his sisters Arpita and Alvira , who broke down and hugged their brother, when the decision was announced. He also broke down into tears when he was taken into custody and transferred to Jodhpur Central Jail , where he had been lodged with special security arrangements . He is qaidi(prisoner) no.106 and has the Godman Asaram Bapu as his neighbour in barrack number 2 , who is accused of rape charges.

A Sessions Court here will pronounce its order on the bail application on Saturday. The court heard the arguments for suspending the jail sentence on Friday and and summoned all the related documents from Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court which declared the imprisonment on Friday.

This imprisonment will be an example of the stature of Law and Order policiesof our country , albeit the decision had taken a very long time.