JODHPUR, India, Aug 24 (Reuters) - An Indian court rejected the bail plea of Bollywood star Salman Khan in a 1998 poaching case on Friday, a verdict that would send the actor to jail.

Khan had filed an appeal against an earlier court ruling which had sentenced him to five years of "rigorous" imprisonment in connection with poaching of a chinkara, an endangered deer.

Khan was not present in court in the western desert city of Jodhpur when the verdict was announced. It was not immediately known when he would be taken into custody.

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