In what could be seen as a huge setback to Bollywood actor Salman Khan's trial in connection with the long-pending hit-and-run case, a Mumbai session court on Monday rejected his plea against a magistrate's order for a re-trial of the case and ordered a fresh hearing on 19 July.
The 47-year-old actor was earlier tried for rash and negligent driving at the Magistrate Court but after investigating 17 witnesses, the magistrate invoked a serious charge of "culpable homicide not amounting to murder" against him and transferred the case to the sessions court for a re-trial.
Salman Khan had challenged the slapping of homicide charge not amounting to murder against him by the Bandra court but the sessions court turned down his plea.
The actor, who has been charged under Section 304 part II of Indian Penal Code (IPC), can face up to 10 years imprisonment if found guilty of the charges slapped against him.
A Toyota land cruiser allegedly driven by the actor ran over five people, who were sleeping on the pavement outside a bakery on Pali Hill Road in Bandra in the wee hours of 28 September, 2002. A 38-year-old man was killed and four others were injured in the incident.
He is in another legal trouble for killing two endangered blackbucks during the shooting of Bollywood film, "Hum Sath Sath Hain" in 1998.
