"The accused committed a heinous crime and hence he is being given five years of rigorous imprisonment," Judge Vijender Kumar Jain told stunned fans and lawyers in the northern Indian desert city of Jodhpur.

He also slapped a 25,000-rupee (560-dollar) fine on the 40-year-old actor.

Khan had already been given a suspended one-year jail sentence in February and fined 5,000 rupees (113 dollars) for killing two of the so-called "black bucks", known as chinkara in Hindi, during a 1998 hunting expedition.

Clad in blue denims, a white cotton shirt and a baseball cap, Khan appeared nervous as police took away his mobile phone and led him to a prison cell, where he was expected to remain for at least two nights before a bail appeal can be heard.

"This is a wrong decision... This is a wrong decision," repeated Khan as his lawyer Hastimal Sashwat said he would appeal to a higher court in Rajasthan state.

"We will challenge the verdict as well as the sentence," Sashwat said.

The court freed four other suspects, handed down a one-year jail term on a fifth and registered cases against two prosecution witness for retracting their testimony.

Khan, one of India's best-known actors, is no stranger to controversy. He also faces charges of manslaughter after a road accident in 2002 left one person dead and four injured.

The actor has denied allegations that he was at the wheel, drunk and without a licence, when his car ran over people sleeping on a sidewalk in western Mumbai, home to the country's film industry.

Khan is currently involved half a dozen unfinished films including a multi-million dollar Bollywood project where he was to perform alongside former Miss World Priyanka Chopra.

Rumi Jaffery, the director of "God Tussi Great Ho" (God You're Great), a Hindi film currently under production featuring Khan, said: "The film is not important. Salman Khan is more important to me than the film.

"I hope that he will get bail from a higher court like he has done before. I'm hopeful things will work out."

Bollywood trade analyst Vinod Mirani said Khan was involved in half-a-dozen projects worth 750 million rupees (17 million dollars).

He had also been due to join other Bollywood stars in a song and dance extravaganza that was due to tour the US and the Middle East

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