Actor Salman Khan sentenced to five years of imprisonment, under Section 304 of the IPC, in the 2002 hit-and-run case by a Mumbai session court on Monday.

The court held Salman guilty of running an SUV over homeless people who were sleeping on a pavement on a September night in 2002. The incident had left one dead another four injured.

The court found that Salman was indeed in the driver’s seat at the night of the incident, and was also in a drunken state as the case made by the prosecution. Earlier, the defence had claimed that it was Salman’s driver Ashok Singh who was driving the car that night.

Singh had recently testified in the court that he was driving the car and claimed that the SUV went out of control after a sudden burst of its front left tyre. 

However, the court relied on the statements of prosecution witnesses including that of the victims, and held Salman guilty on all charges, which include various sections of the IPC, Motor Vehicle Act and Bombay Prohibition Act.

More than Rs 200 crore is riding on the 49 year old actor’s films and endorsements that are currently in the pipeline.

On September 28, 2002, Salman was driving back home from Juhu allegedly in an inebriated state, when he lost control over his Toyota Land Cruiser and ran over the men sleeping on a pavement. He then fled from the scene of crime, leaving the vehicle and injured behind.