COMMENT

Bollywood star Salman Khan was convicted yesterday of poaching rare deer in a wildlife preserve two decades ago and sentenced to five years in prison, with the trial judge describing him as a “habitual offender”.

The busy actor contends he did not shoot the two blackbuck deer in the western India preserve in 1998 and was acquitted in related cases.

He was in court for the ruling in the western city of Jodhpur yesterday. After the verdict, police took him to a local prison. His attorneys are expected to appeal his conviction in the state High Court and seek bail for him this week.

Khan, 52, had spent a total of 18 days in prison in 1998, 2006 and 2007 in the poaching cases, but was freed on bail, the Press Trust of India news agency said. He had been sentenced to prison terms of between one and five years in related cases before being

“The judges found that prosecutors had failed to prove charges of culpable homicide”