Jodhpur, Apr 5 (PTI): A Jodhpur court on Thursday sentenced Bollywood star Salman Khan to five years in jail for killing two blackbucks in October 1998 but acquitted his colleagues Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre, a prosecution lawyer said.

Preparations for sending Salman to the Jodhpur Central jail are in place, Mahipal Bishnoi, the prosecution counsel, told reporters.

Salman was sentenced to jail for a five-year term and fined Rs 10,000, he said.

A fifth person, Dushyant Singh, a local man, has also been acquitted, he said.

Salman was found guilty of killing two blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of October 1, 1998, during the shooting of the film ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’.

Salman, who has been held guilty under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, faced a maximum jail term of six years behind bars.

Final arguments of the case were completed in the trial court on March 28, after which Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved his judgment.

All the actors were in a Maruti Gypsy that night with Salman in the driving seat. He spotted a herd of blackbucks and killed two of them, the lawyer said.

Dressed in a black shirt, Salman reached the court earlier in the morning with his bodyguard.

The other actors, some of them accompanied by their family members, were also in the courtroom when the verdict was read out.