Bollywood star Salman Khan has been sentenced to five years in prison for killing a homeless man in a hit-and-run incident in 2002.
Khan, who was charged with culpable homicide, is expected to appeal the verdict. He has claimed that his driver was behind the wheel when his Toyota Land Cruiser ran over five people sleeping on a pavement in the Bandra district of Mumbai, killing one and injuring the other four.
However, the judge hearing the case in Mumbai today said the star was driving the car himself and was under the influence of alcohol.
Khan is one of Bollywood’s three most bankable actors – along with Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan – and his imprisonment affects several big-budget films in production and pre-production. His recent Hindi-language hits include Kick, Dabangg 2 and Ek Tha Tiger.
He is the second major Bollywood star to be imprisoned in recent years – Sanjay Dutt is currently serving time for possession of weapons linked to the Mumbai bombings in 1993.
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