A silent revolution is in process in Jodhpur where youths of the Bishnoi community are collecting funds to build a grand memorial in the memory of the blackbucks that were buried here in Kankani village after being poached by Bollywood star Salman Khan 24 years ago. Salman Khan was accompanied by actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu and Neelam on this trip when the blackbucks were hunted.
The land where these blackbucks were buried will have a memorial soon, said Prem Saran, one of the youths behind the project. The memorial will have a statue of a blackbuck and 1,000 trees will be planted on the land where the mute animal was buried, he said adding that a few young boys from his community have formed a WhatsApp group which has started a fund collection drive. They are collecting around Rs 500 to Rs 1000 from each person to ensure they have around Rs 2 lakh for the memorial. Recently, a team with JCB machines was here to clear the land of debris and now we shall start growing trees and construct a statue of a black buck. The memorial will be built in around a year, said Prem. Kankani is the village where Salman Khan and the other stars of 'Hum Saath Saath Hai' allegedly poached blackbucks in 1998. The Bishnoi community stood against them and approached the court. On April 5, 2018, the Rajasthan Sessions Court convicted Salman Khan and sentenced him to five years' imprisonment. Salman's lawyers appealed against the sentence, and the matter is still pending in the Rajasthan High Court. (IANS/ MBI) https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsgram.com/amp/memorial-in-rajasthan-forblacbucks-salmankhan-2656323054
Apart from his blockbuster films, Salman Khan has been in news majorly for two reasons – one for his court cases (currently in the blackbuck poaching case) and two for his relationship. At 52, he continues to be Bollywood eternal bachelor. But we have now learnt that the actor was very close to getting married and even engaged to one of his girlfriends. We aren’t talking about Aishwarya Rai (now Bachchan), an affair and ugly separation with whom had been widely reported. Or Katrina Kaif, one of his recent ex-flames who continues to be his friend and co-star.
This is actually from 1998, when the actor got embroiled in the blackbuck poaching controversy and had a case slapped on him. Lalita Bora, the forest official investigating the case, has revealed some shocking details about the actor and what he confessed to her while she was questing him in the poaching case. According to reports, Bora has revealed that Salman didn’t want to get convicted and go to jail since he was keen on getting married and settling down. He used to get angry and threaten often during investigations but the next moment he would plead to not put him behind bars since he was yet to get married. Not just that, he also revealed the name of the woman he wanted to settle down with.
Bora has said that Salman would say, “Please mujhe jail mein mat daalo, mujhe Somy Ali se shaadi bhi karni hai abhi.” For the uninitiated, Somy Ali is Bollywood actress and model whom the actor dated. Incidentally, the two broke up in 1998 itself, making us wonder if Salman’s blackbuck poaching case was the reason that made the actress take a step back.
