TT: When Salman Khan walked out of Jodhpur jail 10 years back

Salman Khan outside Jodhpur jail in 2006. Pic/AFP

On January 18, 2017 Bollywood superstar Salman Khan was acquitted by a court in Jodhpur in an Arms Act case related to the alleged poaching of two blackbucks 18 years ago.

But he had a long brush with the bars. Here's a throwback picture of 'Sultan'.

In the picture, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan leaves Jodhpur prison after he was released on bail in Jodhpur on April 13 2006. Khan was set free on the payment of a personal bond of 2,00,000 rupees and two bail bonds of 1,00,000 rupees each while he appeals a five-year jail sentence handed down that week for poaching an endangered gazelle in Jodhpur, Rajasthan a court official said.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpuroti acquitted 51-year-old Salman, who along with his sister Alvira was present in the court. Besides the cases of poaching of endangered antelopes under Wildlife (Protection) Act, a case under sections 3/25 and 3/27 of the Arms Act was filed against Khan for allegedly keeping and using the fire arms with expired licence in the alleged poaching of blackbucks in Kankani near Jodhpur on October 1-2, 1998.

It came quite as a relief for Bollywood actor who tweeted 'support and good wishes'.

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October 1998: Forest guard Gordhan Singh files FIR accusing Salman and his companions of killing black bucks on the intervening night of October 1-2, 1998 in Kankani. Case registered against actor under sections 3/25 and 3/27 of the Arms Act.

July 2000: Police file charge sheet against Salman under Arms Act.

February 2006: Rajasthan HC's Jodhpur bench asks for the case records in a revision petition filed by the govt. The documents remain in Jodhpur till 2014.

March 2016: Salman appears in court and says he's innocent and was being framed in the case by the forest department.

January 2017: Salman is acquitted after the Jodhpur court rejects prosecution evidence against him.