Bollywood actor Salman Khan has been granted bail days after he was sentenced to five years in prison in a high-profile blackbuck poaching case.
Mahesh Bora, a lawyer for Khan, told reporters a judge had signed a bail form of 50,000 rupuees ($770).
According to the defence counsel, the District and Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi granted the actor bail after listening to the prosecution and defence arguments for about an hour.
The 52-year-old was convicted last Thursday by a district court in Jodhpur of violating the country’s wildlife law two decades after he allegedly shot and killed two blackbucks during a hunting trip in 1998.
He was accompanied by four fellow actors who were all shooting the film, Hum Saath Hain, at the time. The actors were accused of being involved in the hunting trip but were all acquitted.
For years, the case has been faced with several delays, including efforts to dismiss parts of the charges. The trial began only in 2013.
The Indian antelope, also known as chinkaras, is an endangered species and revered by residents of Rajasthan. The animals are granted the highest protection under the country’s Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
According to local media reports, Khan is set to leave the Jodhpur Central Jail, where he has spent the previous two nights, before the end of Saturday.
