|
'They wanted to malign Salman'
Salim Khan is distressed at the media uproar against his son Salman
|
Salim Khan
Participate! Discuss!
Is Salman Khan a Media Victim?
Salman Khan was recently remanded for three days by the Mumbai police. September 28, he had allegedly run his Toyota Land Cruiser over five pavement dwellers, killing one and injuring four, in a drunken haze. After surrendering himself to the police, he was released the same day on a bail of Rs 950.
Following a media uproar at the fact that he was let out so easy, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagal Bhujbal ordered a probe into the case. The findings: Salman's blood test showed he had consumed more than double the permissible amount of alcohol. The vehicle he was driving was registered under an Abdul Rahim; Salman was not carrying a driving license at the time he was driving.
When rediff.com caught up with him, writer Salim Khan, Salman's father, was visibly distressed. Here is what he has to say about his son's ordeal:
We are taking everything pretty well.
We hope Salman will get the bail. But the matter is in court. He is in custody. The bail plea will be decided on October 10.
I have one thing to say. Certain sections of the media overdid things when this accident happened. It was not treated as an isolated incident. Accidents do happen. This could have happened to anybody. It was not intentional. But the media was very aggressive. They misreported and distorted facts. Their sole intention was to malign Salman.
Imagine saying that after the accident [Salman's brother] Sohail Khan came to retrieve the CD player. Arre, the car [Salman's Toyota Land Cruiser] was so expensive. It cost Rs 40 lakhs. What is the value of a tape recorder?
Then they said that Salman ran away from the accident site. Salman did try to take them to hospital, but things had gone totally out of hand. They started snatching things from him --- his watch, his wallet. He was manhandled. He started bleeding.
He was crying, "Let me take them [the injured] to the hospital first. Then do what you want to do with me."
Then, people advised him to go away from there and that they would take the injured to the hospital.
Salman was wounded, he got hurt. But the media said he ran away. That film heroes are like this. It was so baseless to say things without confirming them. Someone then said he was driving at the speed of 90 miles an hour on that small stretch. You can't do that much. The fastest car can't do that much.
Then they dug up things like Salman beat up [filmmaker] Subhash Ghai. It was almost as if they were saying, 'Don't let him escape now. He has done all these things earlier. He has a black record, so don't be kind to him.'
We don't know where Salman is. So we cannot find out how he is. He surrendered to the Bandra police station at about 2.30 pm-3 pm on Monday, October 7. He was taken to the Bandra court [in northwestern Mumbai], where he was remanded for three days. He was then taken to the Santacruz police station [in northwestern Mumbai], because they could keep him there overnight.
They probably took Salman to the Crime Branch [in south Mumbai] that night. After that, we do not know what happened to him because nobody was allowed.
We can't do anything because we have no contact with anyone who is near him. The driver and makeup man wanted to be near him in case he needed anything, but they were sent away. We don't know how Salman is since the time he surrendered himself. We have lost contact with him. He is not allowed a cell phone, of course. That is the law and we respect it.
Salman's mother is bearing up. She is sometimes quiet, sometimes crying, sometimes praying. There is a mournful atmosphere in the house. It was a very, very happy house at one time.
It is learnt that Salman Khan spent his first night at the Santa Cruz police station with three drug addicts, one person who was registered in a dacoity case and one in a theft case.
Khan's friends kept vigil outside the police station, and managed to supply him with bottles of mineral water, chewing gum, dal and rice, which were bought from a nearby hotel.
Due to increasing crowds --- Khan's friends, members of the film industry and the public --- Khan was moved to Crime Branch at about 10.30 pm. Though there is no official statement, it is learnt that Khan was also questioned about the ownership of the Toyota Land Cruiser, which was registered under an Abdul Rahim, a resident of Kerala, and his alleged underworld nexus.
Khan slept on a Marathi newspaper, after applying mosquito repellent cream. Apparently, he told the cops that since he had spent a few days in a police lockup in Rajasthan (during the black buck case), he knew what to expect inside a lockup.
Salim Khan spoke to Lata Khubchandani
Additional inputs by Priyanka Nair
Don't Miss!
Controversy's Child, Salman
|