Salman Khan was given licence no. 786 by the Andheri RTO under discretionary powers, an RTO official told the sessions court here on Wednesday as the prosecution re-examined him in the 2002 hit-and-run case involving the actor. He was asked whether licence numbers were allotted consecutively or RTO officers had discretionary powers to reserve a few numbers. The officer said the Assistant Regional Transport Officer had the discretion to reserve a few numbers. The number 786 was reserved and given to Salman Khan when he asked for it.
But the defence questioned whether there was any rule governing such discretionary numbers. Shrikant Shivade, who represents Salman Khan, said there was no rule that conferred such discretionary powers on RTO officials.
The officer, who was later cross-questioned, was shown that one full page in the licence register was blank, except the name of Salman Khan. He could not answer why the rest of the page was blank, and why no other name was written.
On Tuesday, an RTO official told the court that Salman Khan did not have any licence issued in his name in 2002. He said Salman’s first vehicular licence was issued only in 2004.
Later, a woman police officer deposed before the court. She said she had tried to serve summons on a doctor who had conducted the post-mortem of a victim of the hit-and-run case. “But the doctor… has settled in the U.S.” The doctor had earlier given his statement to the lower court. In his absence, the prosecution is likely to rely on it.
The court will hear the matter again on February 20 when a chemical analyst who had deposed earlier is likely to be cross-examined.
