Bollywood actor Salman Khan is a changed man. Seventeen days spent in a jail has proved to be educative for the star. "Perhaps I needed to go inside... I had always lived a life of luxury, had never seen so much pain and discomfort. The stuff I saw inside helped me put things in perspective," Salman told BBC World`s Asia Today programme to be aired on Monday.

He reaffirmed his innocence denying that he was at the wheel at the time of the accident. Perhaps fate had ordained that he undergo such a crisis, Salman said. "Nobody could have stopped it. It was destined. I had to see it all. It was unfortunate my car which had never even been scratched before was involved in the accident", he said. "I was not driving but it was my car... It was an accident, a mistake," he said adding no one was ready to get his side of the story. He said he always used to pick up people from streets who met with accidents. But as ill luck would have it, he could not do so when his own car hit somebody.

"That was not because I ran away, I was there and did not want to leave but a mob gathered and started throwing stones. One hit my knee, other my thigh and another my head. I feel very sad when people say I ran away and my brother went to pick up the car stereo. It is completely untrue," he said.