Salman Khan in police custody

JAIPUR, OCT 13: Filmstar Salman Khan was remanded to police custody for three days by Munsif magistrate Laxman Dutt Kiradoo at Jodhpur to...

JAIPUR, OCT 13: Filmstar Salman Khan was remanded to police custody for three days by Munsif magistrate Laxman Dutt Kiradoo at Jodhpur today following his arrest on charges of violating the Wildlife Protection Act yesterday.

Jagdeep Dhankar, counsel for Salman Khan, told The Indian Express here on telephone from Jodhpur that Kiradoo did not hear his plea for Khan8217;s bail. The forest authorities pleaded for a police remand contending that they needed Khan for the recovery of the weapons used in the killing of two black bucks near Gudha Vishnoi village, 35 km from Jodhpur. Kiradoo accepted the plea for a police remand and posted the case for October 16.

There is more trouble brewing for Salman Khan as the forest department in the border district of Kutch is investigating a case of killing two chinkaras Indian gazelle in the first week of September, in which Khan8217;s involvement is suspected.

Earlier today, about 150 to 200 people staged a demonstration outside the collectorate at Jodhpur infavour of Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan. Since another demonstration, organised by the People For Animals, in protest against the hunting was being held simultaneously, tension built up in the area.

Fortunately for the police, the Vishnois, led by former Congress legislator Ram Singh Vishnoi, who had been sitting on dharna against the hunting, had earlier wound up the show following Khan8217;s arrest. Police superintendent A K Mishra admitted that there was some tension but added that it was under control.

Saif Ali Khan, meanwhile, left for Mumbai today following the grant of an anticipatory bail by the sessions court yesterday. In the chinkara killing case, actor Salman Khan8217;s name figures along with actor Satish Shah.

The World-Wide Fund for Nature WWF and the Tourism and Wildlife Society of India TWSI at a joint press conference here today called for a media boycott of the filmstars booked for poaching the most endangered species of the Indian desert 8212; black buck andchinkara.