Mumbai: The defence lawyer in the 2002 hit- and-run case allegedly involving Bollywood star Salman Khan Tuesday argued that the chief medical officer of the government hospital did not follow the due procedure while collecting a blood sample of the actor after the incident.
Advocate Shrikant Shivade, Salman’s lawyer, cross-examined the prosecution witness Dr Shashikant Pawar who was with the government-run J J Hospital here back then.
Khan’s car had rammed into a roadside shop in suburban Bandra, killing one person and injuring four people, who were sleeping on the pavement, on the night of September 28, 2002.
He was taken to the J J Hospital after the mishap for medical examination. Pawar told the court today that doctors collected Salman’s blood and put it in two vials before sending it to the laboratory.
But Shivade pointed out that the chemical analyser had said he received only one vial. As per the civil medical code, 5 ml of blood needs to be extracted but the doctor said he had extracted only 3 ml of blood for each of the samples.
The defence also pointed out that preservatives should have been added to the sample as per the procedure but it was not done.
Dr Pawar’s cross examination would continue on Saturday.
Meanwhile, special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat today sought the court’s permission to examine three more witnesses whose statements were not a part of the charge sheet.
Gharat wants to examine a road transport officer regarding Salman’s driving license, the police constable who took the blood sample to the laboratory and the magistrate who recorded the statements of certain witnesses. The court is likely to decide on the prosecution’s application on Saturday.
Twenty-one witnesses have been examined so far, with another five to six left.
Salman is facing the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which attracts maximum of ten years in jail.
