A Rajasthan high court judge on Wednesday refused to entertain the bail plea of actor Salman Khan on grounds of judicial propriety, and the case has been transferred to another bench.
Judge Gopal Krishna Vyas, who was supposed to hear the bail plea according to the roster, excused himself saying he was the lawyer of one of the witnesses in the case and may be biased after some allegations surfaced.
The hearing into Salman's bail plea and revision will now be heard by another bench of the high court. Salman's lawyers, including Dipesh Mehta, are seeking an early hearing.
Salman had to go to jail after the district and sessions court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him on August 24. The district and sesions court judge Kamal Raj Singhvi had upheld the lower court's verdict of April 10, 2006, sentencing him to five years rigorous imprisonment for poaching chinkara.
The judge had also rejected actor's appeal for 10 days' time to surrender. He is convicted of poaching a chinkara, a species of protected antelope, in Ghoda Farm under Mathania police station on September 28-29, 1998, while he was camping there for the shooting of the film Hum Saath Saath Hain.
Salman's other appeal against his one-year imprisonment for poaching two black bucks in Bhavad village on September 26-27, 1998, is pending in court and will come up for hearing on September 10.