Bollywood superstar, Salman Khan was charged by the police in 1998 for his alleged involvement in the poaching of Blackbuck during the shooting of his film, Hum Saath Saath Hain, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. It was when Salman went on a safari in the Bhagoda Ki Dhani area located in Kankani village, with his co-stars, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam Kothari and Sonali Bendre and had allegedly killed two Blackbucks. Now, Mahesh Thakur, who also played an eminent role in the film, opened up about the incident when police took Salman and other stars into custody during their shooting.
In a candid conversation with Siddharth Kannan, Mahesh Thakur recalled what happened on the day when the police showed up on the set of his film, Hum Saath Saath Hain, to arrest Salman Khan and four other cast members, including Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam Kothari and Sonali Bendre, into custody. Mahesh then explained the awful experience of the past and how everyone amongst them, have already moved on from the incident. Mahesh said:
“We were filming a song when the cops showed up on set, picked up everybody and took them to the station. Neither me, Mohnish Bahl nor Karisma Kapoor was involved. We three were not involved. Only the five of them. It was not a good thing what we saw and experienced. But thankfully all that is in the past now and we have moved on.”
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In the same conversation, Mahesh revealed that after the arrest, Salman was kept in jail for the whole night until his brothers, Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan came to rescue him. He mentioned how Salman became normal just the next day, and similarly, Saif too. But talking about the negativity that got spread in the news, Mahesh continued:
“The women were let go, but I think Salman bhai was there overnight with the cops. Then his family came–Arbaaz and Sohail. Salman was okay the next day. He is a cool dude, he was fine. Even Saif. Because it was so ambiguous, news waalo ne kaafi uchchale hai, kuch nikala toh nahi tha. People were hyping it because Salman and Saif’s names were associated, so the media enjoyed it. But the fact is nothing came out at the end of it, but the media fed a lot of negativity. It was normal. Everyone knew everyone, it wasn’t that aapne kiya hai questioning. The professionalism was displayed easily.”
Further, Mahesh opened up about the film's director, Sooraj Barjatya's reaction to the incident. Mahesh mentioned that the Jodhpur schedule got cancelled when the incident happened, and the entire cast was sent back. Soon after that, they were re-grouped, and things were completely normal at that time. However, Sooraj Barjatya needed eight extra days to complete the shooting, and postponing the shoot was pretty challenging. He said:
“Sooraj ji had taken eight extra days from us, apart from the 99 days of shoot. He said he would finish our shoot in 99 days. When the case happened, the eight extra days worked in the favour of the film because they were all combination dates. So we used those buffer eight days to shoot, otherwise getting dates from everyone and shooting it would have been very difficult.”
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After the alleged poaching incident, the Bishnoi community, living in the same village, had raised their voices, as they consider Blackbucks as extremely sacred and reincarnation of their religious guru, Guru Bhagwan Jambeshwar. Following this, in 2018, Lawrence Bishnoi had also given an open death threat to Salman Khan and revealed that he would kill the latter in Jodhpur. Salman Khan was then charged under section 9/51 of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
On April 10, 2006, a trial court found Salman guilty of the same, and the actor was fined Rs. 25,000 and five years of imprisonment. After a lot of ups and downs in the case, Salman was granted bail as there was no proper evidence that proved the actor's licensed gun had killed Blackbucks. If reports are to be believed, Congress politician Baba Siddique also helped Salman a lot during the Blackbuck poaching case. But after the frequency of death threats, his security was also increased by the police.
What do you think about Mahesh Thakur's revelations regarding Salman and others' alleged involvement in the Blackbuck poaching case? Let us know!
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