Remembering The Curious Case Of Ravindrapatil Post Salman's Conviction

[adwitiya_original]

Salman Khan and his hit and runcase has seen quite a few twists and turns over the past one decade. As the actor was proved guilty today and slammed with a 5 year sentence, one issue that comes to mind is the curious case of Ravindra Patil.

News has it that Patil was an honest man, who saw the bitter side of reality with this case, which in the end also cost him his life. So who was he and how did he get entangled in this high profile case? Here are some pointers.

Who was Ravindra Patil?

Ravindra Patil was a key witness in Salman Khan case and was the on duty police body guard of Salman Khan during the time of the fateful accident. News has it that Patil was in the car with Salman and Kamaal Khan when the accident happened. Apparently, this cop had gone ahead and given his statement that Salman was under the influence of alcohol when he sat behind the driver's wheel that night.

Patil was imprisoned

Apparently, Patil received a lot of pressure to retract his statement. He was then arrested for missing some court sessions. In Jail, Patil was heard to be ill-treated and tortured. He was locked in Arthur road jail. Interestingly, news has it that this is the same place where Salman could be jailed too.

Patil's tragic end

Patil's last days were miserable. He succumbed to a serious illness and passed away in Sewri TB hospital on October 4 2007. It is said to be a tragic and lonely death with no loved ones around him during the last moments.

Apparently, this unfortunate accident has proven to be a bane for numerous people, the victims included. Sometimes, life just isn't fair, is it?

[tom bhayya]

:3D_Smiles:

[adwitiya_original]

In 2006, during the examination of witnesses of the case, Patil went missing. His family lodged a missing report at a local police station. For his failure to appear for five consecutive court dates, Patil was issued an arrest warrant, acting on which, Crime Branch arrested himfrom Mahabaleshwar, and produced him before a holiday court in March 2006.

According to a blog-post titled ‘Ravindra Patil: The death of a messenger’ authored by journalist Soumyadipta Banerjee, which was later deleted,

“As the judge ordered that he be arrested and produced in court, his seniors at the police force simultaneously approved that Patil be sacked from his job because he was absent from duty. His seniors chose to ignore the fact that technically Patil was ‘missing’ and not ‘absent’ according to their own records.

Nobody was interested in knowing why he had run away from his house. Or, why the same person who was so forthcoming in lodging a complaint against a Bollywood star like Salman Khan, didn’t want to take the witness-box. Patil was never put under any witness protection programme.

Patil was sent to Arthur Road jail with hardened criminals.”

In the post that was later mysteriously deleted, the author claims that Patil was under tremendous pressure to change his statement, or to say that Salman was not drunk and that it was a human error. The post claims that he dreaded facing the defence lawyers and thus fled the scene.