When Dhankhar got Salman Khan bail in blackbuck case

India Today

2 days ago

Jagdeep Dhankhar, who recently resigned from the Vice-President's post, citing health reasons, was a senior advocate and a constitutional expert. While many focused on the reasons behind his resignation, there remains a less-known chapter of his life. He was a counsel for Bollywood actor Salman Khan and the other accused in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case, and helped them secure bail.The blackbuck case unfolded in Kankani village near Jodhpur, Rajasthan, during the shooting of the film, directed by Sooraj Barjatya, and featuring some of the biggest names in Hindi cinema. It involved the killing of two blackbucks, an endangered species protected under India's Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.In 1998, Jagdeep Dhankhar was among the lawyers representing Salman Khan and his co-stars, including Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam, and Sonali Bendre."Dhankhar was the first lawyer to argue the case for Salman Khan when Jodhpur Police arrested him in 1998, and get bail for him and the other accused," advocate Praveen Balwada, who was Dhankhar's assistant then, told India Today Digital."That was the only period when Dhankhar represented Salman Khan in the black buck case, and wasn't engaged in the case at the subsequent stages," added Balwada.DHANKHAR ON SALMAN KHAN AND BLACKBUCKS IN 1998Speaking to Rediff On The Net that year, Dhankhar acknowledged his role in the case. When asked directly whether the actors had gone hunting during the shoot, he chose not to offer a definitive answer.Instead, he raised questions about the investigation's credibility, remarking, "There were 300 people on the sets. How come none knew when the incident occurred?", according to the Rediff report.He also defended Salman Khan's behaviour following the arrest."I pleaded before the judge stating that Salman had fully co-operated with the police after his arrest and therefore there is every reason to grant him bail," Dhankhar said, according to the report.In court, he sought to cast doubt on the timeline and reliability of the villagers' statements."When the villagers say the actors were involved in the killing, why did they not chase them right then rather than lodging a complaint after three weeks?" he argued.While Dhankhar was involved in the initial legal proceedings, his role re-emerged two decades later when the case reached a critical juncture.WHAT'S THE LATEST ON SALMAN KHAN'S BLACKBUCK CASE?After years of hearings, Salman Khan was convicted on April 5, 2018, and lodged in Jodhpur Central Jail, where he spent two nights before being granted bail.On April 7, 2018, District and Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi granted bail to Khan on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of Rs 25,000 each.According to a report by The Times of India, the bail conditions included a requirement that Khan not leave the country without the court's permission and appear in court on May 7, 2018.As for Dhankhar, he joined the BJP in 2003, led its legal affairs department by 2016, and was appointed Governor of West Bengal in 2019.He resigned in 2022 after being nominated as the NDA's vice-presidential candidate, a position he went on to win.While Dhankar stepped down as Vice President, this was a less-known chapter of his life, where he defended Salman Khan as his lawyer.- EndsMust Watch
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