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Bollywood star Salman Khan sentenced to five years for killing antelopes

Does the buck stop here?

Indian Bollywood actor Salman Khan arrives at a court to hear the verdict in the long-running wildlife poaching case against him in Jodhpur on Thursday. — AFP
JODHPUR — Bollywood superstar Salman Khan was sentenced to five years prison on Thursday by an Indian court for killing endangered wildlife nearly two decades ago. Khan, regarded as the bad boy of Indian cinema, was taken into police custody and driven to jail after the sentencing amid chaotic scenes outside court. But the actor, who denied poaching the rare antelopes known as black bucks in 1998, can still appeal his conviction for a crime that has gripped celebrity-obsessed India for years. The court has given a five-year jail term and fined Salman Khan 10,000 rupees ($150), prosecution lawyer Mahipal Bishnoi told reporters outside the court in the Rajasthan city of Jodhpur. Hundreds of police were deployed outside the courtroom to keep back fans, who massed to support the body-building actor best known for his macho roles. Khan, one of the Indian movie industry's most bankable stars, wore black sunglasses and a figure-hugging black shirt as he walked briskly from a white SUV to the courthouse flanked by security. Four other Bollywood stars — Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam Kothari — were also accused of joining the hunting trip but were acquitted for lack of evidence. Khan, whose legion of fans emulate his distinct hair