Jodhpur: Salman Khan arrested, sent to jail

Bollywood star Salman Khan was on Saturday arrested and sent to jail shortly after he landed in Jodhpur from Mumbai to surrender in the blackbuck poaching case.

On Friday, Salman lost an appeal against a five-year prison term given by a lower court. He was picked up from airport by a police team headed by Additional Superintendent of Police Sawai Singh Godhara when he arrived by a Jet Airways flight accompanied by his brother Sohail and lawyer Dipesh Mehta.

His lawyers argued with the police that he wanted to surrender, but the law-enforcers said they had a court warrant and they had to execute it.

Khan, wearing a white T-shirt, cargo pants and sporting sunglasses, was soon after taken in a police jeep and produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate who had issued the non-bailable warrant since he was not present in the sessions court which had on Friday rejected his appeal.

The CJM directed him to be lodged in the jail. His lawyers now plan to file an appeal against the sessions court judgment in the Jodhpur bench of the Rajasthan high court on Saturday itself, though it may be heard only on Monday.

A huge crowd, mostly his fans, had collected before the court apparently to have a glimpse of the 41-year-old actor.

Some of them had placards supporting him. Strict security measures were in place at the airport and the court premises.

Khan had said before his departure in Mumbai that he was a law-abiding citizen and wanted to surrender.

"A warrant has been apparently issued and as per advice from my lawyers, I am going to Jodhpur to surrender. Nobody has told me to get there, but I am going there as a responsible citizen who abides by the law," Khan told the media in Mumbai.

When Khan was produced before CJM Ravi Shankar Sharma, he sought bail verbally but was denied.

When police brought him to the Jodhpur Central Jail and lodged him in the barracks, his lawyer tried to enter along with him. But police prevented him while citing certain legal provisions and said that since the court has sent him to judicial custody, he (advocate) cannot talk to him.

Khan looked upset when police brought him to the jail. With misty eyes, he ignored even the slogan shouting by his fans outside the jail premises.

According to jail sources, Salman has been lodged in the barrack No. 1 of the Jodhpur Central Jail along with a lifer Mahesh Sharma, who was also with Salman last time, when he was sentenced to five years imprisonment on April 10, 2006.

Salman has been lodged in Jodhpur jail for third time.

He was sent to jail after he was arrested in connection with poaching in 1998 and second time when CJM court sentenced him to five years imprisonment in 2006.

Now, he has been lodged in jail after the district and session court of Jodhpur disallowed his appeal on Friday.