Salman Khan Gets 5 Years in Jail - Blackbuck Poaching Case

• Salman Khan has been sentenced to five years in jail in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case

• Co-accused Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam and Tabu have been acquitte

The Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has been jailed for five years for poaching a protected species of Indian antelope.

A court in Rajasthan state on Thursday found Khan, one of the world’s best-paid actors, guilty of illegally hunting the two blackbucks from his car window while filming in Jodhpur in 1998.

Public prosecutors alleged that Khan, 52, and four other actors in the car with him fled the scene when they were spotted, leaving the animals’ carcasses behind.

The other actors, among them Saif Ali Khan and Sonali Bendre, were acquitted by the court in Jodhpur for lack of evidence.

India’s wildlife protection act bans the hunting of all but a handful of wild animals without a special permit.

As well as the five-year sentence the court also fined Khan 10,000 rupees (£109). His lawyers say they will appeal the conviction and apply for bail as soon as possible.