OPINION: Salman Khan paid the price for his stardom?

This is Salman Khan's fourth stint in the Jodhpur Central Jail. Earlier, he has spent a total of 18 days in the jail in 1998, 2006 and 2007, all for poaching cases.

Bollywood actor Salman Khan (C) AFP PHOTO / Jewel SAMAD / FILE

New Delhi: On 5 April 2018, a Jodhpur court convicted "Dabangg" Salman Khan in the blackbuck poaching case and sentenced him to five years imprisonment while acquitting Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam and Tabu. This is Salman Khan's fourth stint in the Jodhpur Central Jail. Earlier, he has spent a total of 18 days in the jail in 1998, 2006 and 2007, all for poaching cases. What had happened on that fateful night? As per reports, on the night of October 1, 1998, during the shooting of the film "Hum Saath Saath Hain", "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" shot and killed the blackbucks, (from the antelope family), in Kankani village near Jodhpur. Indian black bucks / AFP PHOTO / Manan VATSYAYANA / FILE That night, all the actors were in a Gypsy with Salman Khan behind the wheels. "Tiger Zinda Hai" actor spotted a herd of blackbucks and, reportedly, killed two of them. Is Salman Khan the only bad boy of Bollywood who faced the law? No. On April 19, 1993, Sunil and Nargis Dutt's son, Sanjay Dutt was arrested for possession and destruction of an AK-56 rifle, which was, reportedly, a part of a cache of arms and explosives that had landed in India prior to the blasts of March 1993. Like Salman Khan, he was sentenced to five years in jail. Another actor Shiney Ahuja grabbed eyeballs. His career ended when his domestic help accused him of rape in 2009. Sooraj Pancholi, hit the headlines even before his debut following actor-singer Jiah Khan's mysterious suicide. Pancholi's career was, reportedly, launched by Khan. On a fake passport case, actress Monica Bedi spent almost two years in jail when she was arrested along with underworld don Abu Salem after they were extradited from Portugal. But it is the Salman Khan's case which is the talk of the town. I wondered why? Undoubtedly, the sun never set for the actor. Salman Khan, in 2004, was ranked as the 7th Best looking man in the world by People Magazine of the USA and in 2008 his lifelike wax statue was installed in London's Madame Tussauds Museum, People Magazine, in 2010, declared him the Sexiest Man Alive and in 2011, 2012 and 2013 actor was declared the Times of India's Most Desirable Man in 2nd, 1st and 3rd place respectively. He topped the Forbes India charts for 2014, in terms of both revenues and fame. As per the Forbes 2015 list 'Celebrity 100: The World's Top-Paid Entertainers 2015', Salman Khan was the highest ranked Indian in the 71st rank with income of $33.5 million. It is being said that everything comes with a price and it appears that Salman Khan paid the price of his stardom. To read other opinion pieces, political analyses, by-line stories and interviews by Anurag Kumar CLICK HERE About the author: Author Anurag Kumar is an Associate Producer in ABP News Network Pvt Ltd and tweets at @AnuragSason