Harish Dulani, the main witness in the blackbuck poaching involving actor Salman Khan has retracted his earlier statements and said that he had never seen the star killing the endangered animals.

Dulani told a TV channel that his earlier statements against Salman had been forcefully obtained by the police and forest department officials, who cowed him into making them.

Dulani and his family had gone underground for about four years from Jodhpur and the court hearing the poaching case issued a warrant against him when he failed to appear before it.

According to his earlier statements, he was the only eyewitness in the poaching case as he had been the driver of Salman's vehicle when the star was shooting for the film "Hum Sath Sath Hain" at Jodhpur, also the time when the blackbuck was poached.

According to Dulani, he fled to Ahmedabad as he feared the police might harm him during their investigations of the case.

Dulani said that though he drove Salman during the shooting of the film, he never took the actor on a hunt.

He said he had been in Jodhpur for the past eight months and by Friday, he would appear before the court to tell the truth.

On Jan 24, 2002, Dulani made his statement against Salman in a court in Jodhpur. But before the next hearing Feb 20, 2002, Dulani disappeared.