Actor Salman Khan, who was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for killing two blackbucks in 1998, is adjusting well in Jodhpur Central Prison. Said Gulab Chand Kataria, Rajasthan’s home minister, to THE WEEK, “He is not creating any problems, and is behaving normally. Like other prisoners, he has to follow the rules.”
Khan will stay in jail today, after the Jodhpur Sessions Court delayed the order on the actor's bail plea till Saturday.
Prisoner number 106, Khan was lodged in barrack 2. Next to him, separated by a curtain, is rape accused godman Asaram Bapu. On Thursday evening, Khan accepted Asaram’s offer to share his food, which is generally brought from a nearby ashram.
Sources in Jodhpur jail said Khan was cooperating well, though he looked a tad depressed and confused at times. Normal food, mostly daal, roti and khichdi, was served to Khan on Thursday night and Friday morning. Food is served to him inside his cell as the officials don’t want other prisoners to mingle with him.
Said Dr Bhupendra Singh, ADG, Prisons, Rajasthan, to THE WEEK, “He is adjusting well and is cooperating with us. No untoward incident has been brought to my notice. The cell, where he is lodged, is a normal one with no extra features. No special food will be served to him. He will eat the regular food meant for the prisoners.”
Khan’s ward has a wooden bed and a cooler. The actor, who slept on a rug on the floor yesterday, was given tablets by the jail doctors to keep his blood pressure under control.
After a Punjab-based gangster Lawrence Bishnoi threatened to kill Khan in Jodhpur, security inside the jail has been beefed up. If Khan’s bail plea gets delayed, officials are planning to keep him with other prisoners from Saturday, so that he doesn’t remain isolated.
Khan hunted and killed blackbucks on October 1, 1998, during the shooting of the film Hum Saath Saath Hain. Blackbuck, a small, slender antelope, is listed in the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act.