Salman Khan Freed on Bail for Two Days

Salman Khan has been freed on bail for two days, hours after being convicted of culpable homicide in a 2002 Mumbai hit-and-run case.

The Bombay high court gave the Bollywood star interim bail for two days after his lawyers filed an appeal against his sentence. The appeal will be heard on May 8.

On May 6, a sessions court sentenced Salman Khan to five years in prison for killing a homeless man.

The man was among five people who were run over in the incident.

Salman Khan, 49, had said his driver was behind the wheel, but the judge said the Indian actor and producer was driving the car and was under the influence of alcohol at the time.

The guilty verdict is being seen as a huge setback for Salman Khan, although the jail term could have been as long as 10 years.

Following the verdict, Salman Khan remained in the trial court while his lawyers went to the high court with the appeal.

The actor is now expected to go home, at least for the next two days.

Salman Khan is one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, appearing in more than 80 Hindi-language films.

Several of his Bollywood colleagues spoke out in his support and expressed their sympathies. Actress Hema Malini said she was praying for him.

If Salman Khan is put behind bars, it will affect several big-ticket film projects he is involved in at the moment.

Meanwhile, one of the victims of the hit-and-run incident has said getting compensation is more important to him than Salman Khan’s conviction.

Abdullah Rauf Shaikh told Outlook magazine: “I have no hard feelings for him (Salman). I still watch his movies.”

The case has gripped Bollywood and India for years.

Late on the night of September 28, 2002, Salman Khan’s Toyota Land Cruiser hit the American Express bakery in the Bandra area of Mumbai, authorities say.

The vehicle ran over five people sleeping on the street, killing 38-year-old Noor Ullah Khan and seriously injuring three others. Another person received minor injuries.

The prosecution alleged that Khan had been driving the car while drunk.

Giving evidence in March, Salman Khan had denied he was drunk or that he was driving the vehicle.

But many witnesses disagreed.

A constable attached to Salman Khan’s security detail said in a statement to the police that the “drunk” actor had lost control of the car. The policeman died in 2007 of tuberculosis.

In April, Salman Khan’s driver told the court that he had crashed the car after a tire burst but the court did not accept that version.