IANS/Mumbai

In a dramatic twist in the retrial of Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s 2002 hit-and-run case, his driver Ashok Singh yesterday told a Mumbai court that it was he who drove the killer vehicle, but the prosecution appeared unconvinced by the confession.
The 43-year-old Singh told the court of Additional Sessions Judge D W Deshpande that he was driving the car when the accident took place on September 28, 2002, leaving a pavement dweller dead, public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat told reporters.
Gharat said the only person who appeared to agree with Singh’s version was Khan.
He said the defence had put up the driver to save the Bollywood actor.
“I have not seen any complaint or any record about Ashok Singh (being the driver) and no other witnesses have spoken about him,” Gharat said.
Singh told the court that he was at the wheel of the Toyota Land Cruiser at the time of the accident. He said he was not speeding but when its tyre burst, the car dragged to the left and he lost control.
He tried hard to hit the brakes, but the car had already climbed the steps of the American Express Bakery, resulting in the death of a sleeping pavement dweller.
Shocked by the accident, the actor, who was sitting on the left seat, attempted to open the door, but it was jammed. So Khan alighted from the right side or the driver’s door, Singh said to questions posed by defence lawyer Shrikant Shivade.
Endorsing Khan’s earlier statement in the court last week, Singh said shortly after the accident, he dialled police control No100 and informed them of the incident.
Later, he went to the Bandra police station to lodge a complaint, but said nobody there listened to him and he was made to wait on a bench outside.
Later that morning, Khan was summoned to the police station and charged with the accident, making Singh suspect something was wrong as his statement was not recorded.
Asked where he was for so many years, Singh replied: “From day one of the accident, I have been saying that I was driving the vehicle and not Salman Khan. But nobody listened, and I was not aware what I should do further.”
Singh denied prosecutor Gharat’s charge that he was taking the blame on himself in return for a huge sum of money.
He countered by saying that he was in the Khan family’s employment since 1990 when he worked for Salim Khan, eminent script writer and the actor’s father, and was devoted to them though he would not sacrifice his life for them.
Singh said he came to the court after Khan’s advice to do so and he continues to work for the family.
Besides the death of a man, four others sleeping on the pavement were injured in the accident outside bakery, close to the actor’s sea-front house in Galaxy Apartments in Bandra.
Khan is facing retrial in the case in the Mumbai Sessions Court with several charges, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which stipulates a 10-year jail term.
The actor was arrested soon after the accident and the case was tried before a Bandra magistrate’s court for rash and negligent driving, the charge attracting a two-year jail sentence.
Later, the enhanced charges were slapped on the actor and the case was transferred to the sessions court.