Bollywood Star Salman Khan Faces Homicide Trial

Bollywood star Salman Khan will be tried for homicide over a 2002 hit-and-run case, his lawyer has said.

If convicted by the Mumbai court he faces up to 10 years in jail, said attorney Dipesh Mehta.

Khan is alleged to have rammed his Toyota Land Cruiser onto a footpath and over five sleeping homeless people in suburban Mumbai, killing one and injuring four others.

Mr Mehta said a court had "directed the police to book him for culpable homicide not amounting to murder".

"We will however challenge this decision in the High Court," Mr Mehta said.

Khan was being tried under a lesser charge of rash and negligent driving, but prosecutors had filed an application for the charges to be upgraded, which the court upheld.

Khan's trial begins on March 11.

Indian courts are notorious for delays and a trial can take years to complete.

Khan - known for his muscular physique and off-camera fits of temper - has been a controversial figure since he first broke into Bollywood in the late 1980s in the romance film Maine Pyar Kiya (I'm In Love).