Twelve hours after Salman Khan allegedly rammed into a pavement in Bandra, killing one person and injuring four, “he was smelling of alcohol”, according to the doctor who was assigned to clinically examine Khan on September 28, 2002. However, the doctor, who is the 20th witness in the hit-and-run trial, on Thursday also told the court that according to the clinical examination, he was not “under the influence of alcohol”.
The witness had extracted his blood samples for alcohol content analysis, around 2.30 pm on the day — five minutes after he was brought in by Bandra police personnel.
Khan’s lawyer Shrikant Shivde informed the court that this fact was not mentioned in the case papers prepared by the witness, but the word alcohol figured in the police’s register, which implied that the evidence was fabricated. “It is true that from the case paper it cannot be said that he was smelling of alcohol. I cannot say why the word alcohol was not in print on the case paper,” the witness deposed. The case paper is the first medical summary made by a doctor, after which the details are redrafted by the doctor in the Emergency Police Register. The doctor is a prosecution witness, as it is the prosecution’s case that the actor had allegedly gone drinking hours before the accident took place.
During the chief examination by special public prosecutor, S P Gharat, the witness testified that he checked for the actor’s alcohol history. “Khan told me that he had not been consuming alcohol. I conducted the alcohol breath examination. I noticed he was smelling of alcohol,” the witness deposed. The witness also deposed that although Khan’s pupils were slightly dilated, his speech was coherent, blood pressure was on the higher side and central nervous and respiratory system were normal when he walked in.
“I asked him for verbal consent of extracting the blood sample. I noted identity marks, took his left thumb impression and sealed the sample to be sent to the Chemical Analyst,” the witness said.
During the cross examination, the witness, however, told the court, “It is a possibility that slight dilation if pupil (can occur) if the patient is not having sufficient sleep.”
Salman Khan Hit And Run Case: Actor Not Drunk, Testifies Doctor
