Salman Khan at the book launch in Mumbai (Image source Varinder Chawla)
Highlights
- Salman is accused of illegally hunting endangered blackbuck and chinkara
- He has faced four separate cases in connection to this
- Twitter thinks it's beyond ironical that Salman was at the event
The irony of having Salman Khan preside at a wildlife-related event has escaped nobody, not least Salman himself. While launching a photo-book titled 'Silent Sentinels Of Ranthambhore' in Mumbai on Wednesday, the 52-year-old actor said, "The less I talk about this topic, the better it is." Salman is accused of illegally hunting endangered blackbuck and chinkara deer while filming
Hum Saath Saath Hain in Rajasthan in 1998. He has faced four separate cases in connection to this, three of which he has been acquitted in.
Salman Khan was at the book launch at the behest of Bina Kak, a friend of the family and former minister of tourism and environment in the Rajasthan cabinet. Salman's Tiger Zinda Hai co-star Katrina Kaif was also at the book launch as were his father Salim Khan and stepmother Helen.
The Rajasthan High Court acquitted Salman Khan in two cases of poaching last year. Early this year, he was also let off in an Arms Act case connected to poaching. In January, he told a Jodhpur court that he was innocent in the fourth poaching - his
Hum Saath Saath Hain co-stars Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre are accused of instigating him in the alleged illegal deer hunt.
Twitter also thinks it beyond ironical that Salman
would be asked to do the honours at an event celebrating wildlife:
At the book launch, Salman Khan also revealed that Ms Kak always seemed to have a book out to coincide with one of his films. "I don't understand whether we are here promoting
Tiger Zinda Hai or her book. It had happened earlier, I was doing Sultan with Ali Abbas Zafar, we were planning on going to Ranthambhore, at that time Bina issued a book on a tiger named Sultan, but the plan didn't work out. Now
Tiger Zinda Hai is coming and her book is also releasing at the same time," the actor said at the event, reports news agency IANS.
Tiger Zinda Hai, a sequel to Salman and Katrina's 2012 hit
Ek Tha Tiger, releases on December 22.