Mumbai, May 8: The prosecution as well as the defence in the Salman Khan case today found themselves on a sticky wicket on Kamaal Khan, a playback singer who was in the car with the actor.

Kamaal, a British national and a distant cousin of Salman, was sitting in the backseat when the accident happened in September 2002. The two had allegedly run away from the scene together after flagging down a vehicle. But neither was Kamaal's statement recorded in a court nor was he examined.

According to documents submitted in the sessions court, Kamaal had given a statement to police saying that Salman was driving the car when the accident occurred. Who drove the car was one of the decisive factors in the case with Salman claiming his family driver Ashok Singh was at the wheel.

Kamaal had then signed an indemnity bond to promise he would participate in the trial - but had jumped the bond and escaped to the UK.

Neither the prosecution nor the defence sought to bring him to court in the past 13 years.

Today, when defence counsel Amit Desai told the high court that Salman was not driving the car, Justice Abhay Thipsay asked a question.

"If there were four people in the car as you claim (defence said Salman, his driver Ashok, police bodyguard Ravindra Patil who is no more now and Kamaal were in the car), why have you never brought Kamaal Khan into the trial?"

The defence fumbled for answers - then blamed the police for having said that Kamaal was not traceable.

The judge later asked the prosecution - which claimed that three, not four, persons were in the car - the same question. The prosecution, too, mumbled a similar answer.

The judge asked why Kamaal was not examined as a witness since Patil, the police bodyguard, had passed away and the defence and the prosecution could not agree whether Ashok was in the car or not.

Lawyer Ujjwal Nikam later told The Telegraph that as Kamaal was a "material witness" - whose testimony could be important enough to affect the outcome of a case - his examination was absolutely mandatory. "I am surprised that for 13 years, the defence and the prosecution have avoided examining him. Why didn't the police try to find him?" Nikam asked.

A pop-singer-turned-actor, Kamaal had become Salman's playback voice for a while. Kamaal rose to fame when he crooned "O oh jaane jaana" for a shirtless Salman in the film Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya in 1998. He has sung for Salman in films such as Tere Naam (2003) and Wanted (2009).

Kamaal was a regular at Galaxy Apartments, living in Salman's home at times. Kamaal is also said to have dated Amrita Arora (now Ladak), the sister of Malaika who is married to Salman's brother Arbaaz.

Kamaal had also acted in the movie, Jo Bole So Nihaal, with Sunny Deol before the accident in 2002 cut short his career.

A source in Salman's publicity team said Kamaal's relations with the Khan clan suffered after he named Salman as the driver in his police statement.

"Perhaps he was scared, we do not know. Now he lives in Zurich," said the source.