Salman's ex-bodyguard's family opens up after hit-and-run verdict

ldquoToday my sonrsquos soul can truly rest in peacerdquo These are the sentiments of Sushilabai Patil the mother of Ravindra Patil who was the bodyguard of actor Salman Khan on that fateful night It was Ravindrarsquos testimony in which he said it was Khan who was driving the car under influence of alcohol that was the key evidence in the actor being pronounced guilty by the Sessions court yesterdayAlso read2002 Salman Khan hitandrun case verdict Victim talks about courts rulingA frail Ravindra Patil in his home at Naigaon police quarters in 2007 He died penniless of tuberculosis at the Sewri TB Hospital the same year File picSpeaking to midday from Dhule Virendra Patil 46 Ravindrarsquos elder brother who works as a constable with the State Reserve Police Force in the same town stated that his 65yearold mother always blamed Khan for his younger brotherrsquos deathAlso read2002 hitandrun verdict Salman Khan proven guilty of all chargesldquoThough he died of tuberculosis he was fit and fine till this case occurred His health went into a downward spiral after the incident and during the case proceedings My mother believed it was Salman Khan and the stress of the case that led to my brotherrsquos health and subsequently his deathrdquoAlso readHeres why Salman Khan is controversys favourite child in BollywoodldquoOn Wednesday my mother was glued to the television since morning She was happy at the guilty verdict as she believed justice though delayed has not been deniedrdquo stated Virendra ldquoI was on duty when I learnt the news about the conviction and punishment pronounced by the courtThis incident changed our lives forever and he Ravindra was heavily on alcohol thereafterrdquo he added Interestingly Kailash Patil the second eldest brother of Ravindra is also a constable with Mumbai Police He too had deposed in the Sessions court during the trialPhotos Shah Rukh Khan and other Bollywood celebs visit SalmanDebtriddenRavindra used to stay in Room 61 of Building number 3 at the Naigaon police quarters A monthly rent of Rs 230 was deducted from his salary as rent for the 180sq ft room see boxPolice constables who were colleagues of Ravindra Patil on condition of anonymity said that Patil had taken an emergency loan of Rs 70000 on July 10 2004 and another personal loan of Rs 34300 on September 29 2007 from the Police Cooperative Credit Society Naigaon Police headquartersAs per the records he had cleared only Rs 59013 and still owed Rs 45287 to the Cooperative Credit Society An elected representative of the Credit Society said ldquoSoon after Patilrsquos demise his balance loan amount was waived using the funds from lsquogangajalirsquo account wherein member constables contribute Rs 50 towards the said account and the corpus is used to clear such bad debts when a constable dies before repaying his loanrdquomidday had carried a series of reports on Patilrsquos declining health and his being diagnosed with the disease The ailing cop spent his last days at the civic TB hospital in Sewri where he died in 2007 penniless The credit society has now tied up with a private insurance company in order to secure the loans given to constables in case of their untimely demiseHis room was a messEvery room in the police quarter is allotted on the basis of availability Before anyone shifts into the room they make inquiries about its previous occupants The current occupant is Ganesh Navale who works with the D N Nagar traffic police and has been staying here for the last seven yearsHis father Vasudev who stays next door in room number 60 told midday that the room was a mess when they were allotted it ldquoWhen we got the flat it was very dirty We spent almost R1 lakh to make it liveable The electricity bill had Rs 7000 pending and I paid it from my own pocket I then got the meter transferred to my namerdquo Vasudev said