Mumbai:The Navi Mumbai police on Saturday claimed to have arrested four members of Lawrence Bishnoi gang for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to kill Bollywood star Salman Khan near his farmhouse in Panvel, Maharashtra by stopping his car and firing on him from AK-47 rifles earlier this year.
The accused persons were identified as Dhananjay Tapsingh alias Ajay Kashyap, Gaurav Bhatia alias Nahvi, Waspi Khan alias Wasim Chikna and Rizwan Khan alias Javed Khan.
A case has been registered against accused persons under sections 115, 120(b) and 506 of Indian Penal Code.
Addressing a press conference in neighbouring Navi Mumbai city, DCP Vivek Pansare said that four men had conducted a recce of the actor's farmhouse as well as his home in western suburb of Bandra, where shots were fired by two motorcycle-borne assailants later in April.
"Some 20-25 people were involved in planning of the foiled attempt. These four men were staying at different places in Panvel, even before the shooting in April. Ajay Kashyap was coordinating with everyone. He also had information on the weapons (to be used in the alleged plot). They had even discussed an escape plan," he said.
Meanwhile, police have also recovered videos from mobile phones of arrested accused persons, through which instructions were given to them to attack Salman Khan with other weapons as well, besides AK-47 rifles.
During interrogation, accused Kashyap revealed that he was in touch with an arms dealer named Doga in Pakistan to procure M-16, AK-47 and AK-92 rifles to carry out the alleged crime.
While asked about the Pakistan connection, DCP Pansare said, "We are investigating. Some more people are wanted in connection with this. A 16-member police team has been working on this case since October 2023."
According to sources in Navi Mumbai Police, information was received that about 60 to 70 boys of Lawrence Bishnoi and Sampat Nehra's gang were hired from Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Navi Mumbai, Raigad, Gujarat to conduct a recce of Salman Khan's shooting locations, home and farmhouse.
Police said that there was a plan to use minors to attack Bollywood actor, after which the perpetrators planned to flee to Sri Lanka via boat from Kanyakumari.
As per an FIR (first information report) registered at the Panvel police station, one of the videos recovered by police shows Kashyap speaking to his partner, during which he said, "Salman Khan will be taught a lesson when the weapons for the said work are received and the money will be received from Canada through (gangster) Goldie Brar."
Investigations also revealed that gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldie Brar would pay shooters huge sums of money if they succeeded in killing the actor.This comes more than a month after two bike-borne persons opened fire outside Salman Khan's residence in Mumbai's Bandra area on April 14.
The duo -- Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal -- were later arrested in Gujarat, while third accused, Anuj Thapan, who was arrested on April 26 in Punjab along with another person in connection with the case, died in custody on May one.
Mumbai Police has invoked relevant sections of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against all those arrested in the firing incident.
Police mentioned gangster Bishnoi as the leader of the gang, whose men allegedly fired outside the actor's house, and added sections of the MCOCA in the FIR.(UNI)
