The prosecution on Tuesday declared a security guard 'hostile' after he backtracked from the statement given to the police earlier that he had seen actor Salman Khan at the spot of the accident in September 2002.
Sachin Kadam told the court that he had neither seen Salman alight from the car, nor run away from the accident spot on the intervening night of September 27, 2002.
Mr. Kadam worked as a security guard at Neelsagar, a restaurant opposite the accident site.
"It is not correct that I had seen the incident and I also saw Salman Khan getting down from the car," he said. "I didn't tell the police that people were saying that Salman had caused the accident," he added, when the prosecution read out his police statement stating the contrary.
Second witness, Mohammed Abdullah Rauf Sheikh, identified the actor. But he did not say that the accident was caused by Salman. Mr. Abdullah was one of the victims of the accident. He had sustained injuries on his right leg when he came under Salman's car wheel.
He said he saw Salman standing at the accident spot after he and another victim were rescued from under the car. The second victim, who was rescued with him, succumbed to his injuries.
"I don't know if Salman was also trying to rescue the victims. Some taxi drivers and bakery workers were saying that Salman was involved in the accident," he said.
When asked if the actor was present in the court, he pointed towards the accused box where Salman was standing.
The court asked him if he had told the police what he heard from the bystanders about Salman having caused the accident. "Yes. My statement was recorded at Bhabha hospital where I was admitted for a month and a half. I had told the police that the taxi drivers and bakery workers said that Salman had caused the accident."
When the court said that the police records did not mention it, he said he didn't know why the police had not recorded this at that time.
Total 10 witnesses have testified in the case till now. The court will examine a few more witnesses on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the prosecution told the court that four witnesses, who were served summons by the court, were not traceable. The court took it on record and directed the prosecution to produce the rest of the witnesses.
One person was killed and four others were injured when the Land Cruiser, allegedly driven by Salman Khan, crushed a group of people sleeping on the pavement outside a bakery in suburban Bandra in 2002.
