Blackbuck case: Salman Khan fails to appear before court, hearing on Dec 19

Bollywood star Salman Khan failed to appear before the Jodhpur Court in a case related to the alleged poaching of two blackbucks in Rajasthan's Kankani village over two decades ago. December 19 has been set as the next date of hearing.

Jodhpur: Bollywood actor Salman Khan did not appear before the Jodhpur District and Sessions Court in the blackbuck poaching case on Friday, following which the court set December 19 as the next date of hearing.

The actor had filed a plea against his conviction by a lower court, which had sentenced him to five years in jail.

During a hearing on July 4, Sessions Court Judge Chandra Kumar Songara had directed him to appear before the court on September 27.

However, the actor did not appear though police claimed to put in place adequate security measures in wake of him receiving a death threat by gangster 'Garry Shooter', who belongs to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

"Due to a similar threat by gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in February last year, Khan had shelved his plan of appearing before the court," said a police official.

Prosecution counsel Mahipal Bishnoi said the court had verbally asked Khan's counsel to make him appear in the court during the last hearing.

The actor has not appeared before the court since May last year when he was granted bail.

During the last hearing, the defence counsel had sought exemption for Khan from appearance in the court, after which the court asked the actor to be present before it as he had been absent since the beginning of the hearing on his plea.

Salman Khan is accused of killing two blackbucks during the shooting of a film in Jodhpur in 1998.

Read: Salman Khan receives death threats on social media