The Rajasthan High Court on Monday acquitted Bollywood actor Salman Khan in the 18-year-old blackbuck and chinkara poaching cases.

Salman had appealed before the Jodhpur bench of the high court challenging a lower court verdict handing him a one and five-years term in the two separate cases of poaching.

The hearing was completed in the last week of May and the order reserved by the high court.

"He has been acquitted in both the cases by the high court," Salman's counsel Hastimal Saraswat said.

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

One of the animals was killed at Bhawad on the outskirts of Jodhpur on September 26, 1998, and the other at Ghoda Farms on September 28, 1998.

Shooting for the film "Hum Saath Sath Hain" was on at the time.

Salman had earlier been lodged in Jodhpur jail in the cases.

(Source: IANS)