MUMBAI: A judge will rule on Wednesday whether Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is guilty of killing a homeless man in a 2002 hit-and-run after a night out drinking, before trying to blame his driver.
Khan, star of blockbusters such as "Dabangg" (Fearless), is accused of driving his Toyota Land Cruiser into a group of homeless men sleeping rough in suburban Mumbai after spending the evening in an upmarket bar.
One man was killed and several others were injured in the incident.
Khan has always denied being behind the wheel, but if convicted of culpable homicide he faces up to 10 years in prison, bringing the career of one of the Indian movie industry's biggest box-office draws to a shuddering halt.
The trial began in earnest last year after a series of court hearings and legal hold-ups.
A string of prosecution witnesses, including survivors of the crash, have testified that Khan was driving the vehicle when it ploughed at speed into the men sleeping on the street near a bakery in September 2002.
When 49-year-old Khan finally took the stand in March, he pleaded not guilty and told the court that his driver was responsible for mounting the pavement in the upmarket suburb of Bandra West.
The driver testified in court last month that he had been behind the wheel, and that the crash occurred after the front left tyre burst, making steering and braking difficult.
But a constable attached to Khan's security detail said in his statement to police that the drunk actor lost control of the car while driving at about 90 kph (55 mph).
"The people were sleeping on the footpath. Salman and (his cousin) Kamaal ran away from the spot," said the constable, who died in 2007 of tuberculosis.
One of the sleeping labourers injured in the accident said in his statement that "Salman was so drunk he fell. He stood but he fell again and then he... ran away".
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