In a huge relief for Bollywood actor Salman Khan, the Rajasthan high court on Monday acquitted him in the Jodhpur blackbuck and chinkara poaching cases.

Khan was accused of killing a blackbuck and a chinkara in two separate incidents in 1998.

The actor had appealed to the Rajasthan high court challenging a lower court's verdict that convicted him and sentenced him to one and five years in jail for the two cases of poaching.

The high court completed hearing the cases in the last week of May but reserved its decision at the time.

Khan was accused of killing one of the animals in Bhawad on the outskirts of Jodhpur on September 26, 1998, and another in Ghoda Farms on September 28, 1998.

At that time of the alleged incidents Khan was shooting for the film "Hum Sath Sath Hain" in Jodhpur.

(Times of India)