New Delhi, Delhi, India

Actor Salman Khan was on Saturday granted bail by the Jodhpur Sessions Court in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case against him.

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The actor, 52, was granted bail on a surety of Rs 50,000. He walked free on Saturday evening after spending two consecutive nights in the Jodhpur Central Jail. The actor reached his home, Galaxy Apartments, in Mumbai late evening. He emerged at his balcony a while later and waved at his fans. Earlier, Salman looked relieved as he was whisked away in a car from the jail to the Jodhpur Airport.

Mahipal Bishnoi, lawyer of the Bishnoi community, which filed the case against Salman, said that the actor cannot leave the country without the court's permission and will have to appear here again in person on May 7.

Salman Khan's sisters - Alvira and Arpita - were present during the hearing.

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While the prosecution had demanded that Salman's bail plea application be rejected on the ground of eyewitness accounts, the defence questioned the veracity of the same accounts, claiming that they were filled with discrepancies.

Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi had, on Friday, put off the hearing by a day as he wanted to see the entire case record before deciding whether Salman Khan should be granted bail. 

In a late night development, an order was issued to transfer Mr Joshi to Sirohi, as part of a reshuffle. He was among 134 judges transferred by the registrar general of the Rajasthan High Court.

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The Jodhpur court had convicted the "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" star for killing two blackbucks, an endangered species, in 1998 while shooting for the film "Hum Saath Saath Hain", and sentenced him to five years in jail.

The other stars in the case - Saif Khan, Neelam, Tabu and Sonali Bendre - were acquitted.

Salman was sentenced under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and others under Section 51 read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code. The Bollywood superstar was also slapped with a penalty of Rs 10,000.

The actor had on Thursday appealed for a bail following his conviction in the 20-year-old case.

This was the actor's fourth stint in jail in the blackbuck poaching. Salman has earlier spent a total of 18 days in the jail in 1998, 2006 and 2007, all for cases of poaching.

The Bishnoi community has been at the forefront of the case, with them having got a report lodged in the first place.

Bollywood has rallied behind the actor with many of Salman's colleagues and friends including Malaika Arora Khan, Amrita Arora, Sonakshi Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha and Daisy Shah visiting the actor's Mumbai home while he was lodged in jail.