Bollywood star Salman Khan acquitted of poaching endangered animals

An Indian court has acquitted Bollywood star Salman Khan in an 18-year-old case involving the poaching of an endangered gazelle species in the state of Rajasthan, overturning earlier verdicts that had sentenced him to prison.

Khan was accused of hunting chinkaras (Indian gazelles) in two separate cases in 1998, while shooting for his film Hum Saath Saath Hain. His co-stars Saif Ali Khan and Sonali Bendre were also accused in the case. Chinkaras are a protected species in India and hunting them is a punishable offence.

In its verdict, the Rajasthan High Court said that there was no evidence that the pellets found on the dead animals had been shot from Khan's licensed gun. The driver of the jeep that the Khan and his co-stars were in, had also gone missing. Khan had appealed against a lower court's verdict, which convicted and sentenced him to one year's prison term in the blackbuck case and five years of imprisonment in the chinkara case. The 50-year-old actor had spent only six days in a jail in Jodhpur in 2007, before being released on bail.

Khan still faces two cases of poaching blackbucks or Indian antelopes on the outskirts of the city of Jodhpur in 1998 and using unlicensed firearms. Like chinkaras, blackbucks are an endangered and protected species. The original case on the hunting of blackbucks was filed by Rajasthan's Bishnoi community, who worship blackbucks.

One of Bollywood's biggest stars, Khan is no stranger to controversy. Last year, Khan was acquitted of all charges in a long-running hit-and-run case, in which he had been accused on running over a homeless man in 2002. The state government of Maharashtra has challenged the acquittal. More recently, Khan caused an uproar after he said that the felt like a "raped woman" after a gruelling film shoot. The actor was asked to apologise for his statement, but has so far declined to do so.

Many Twitter users reacted to the news with cynicism.

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