The Navi Mumbai Police on Saturday arrested four members of the
Lawrence Bishnoi gang who were allegedly planning an attack on
Salman Khan's car in Panvel.
The accused have been taken into custody and further investigation is in progress, according to news agency ANI.
The accused apprehended by Navi Mumbai Police have been reportedly identified as Dhananjay (Ajay Kashyap), Waspi Khan (Wasim Chikna), Rizwan Khan (Javed Khan) and Gaurav Bhatia (Nahvi).
The accused were planning to order weapons through a Pakistani arms supplier to execute the attack, the report mentioned citing police sources.
According to police sources, convicted gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, his cousin Anmol Bishnoi and collaborator Goldie Brar had purchased M-16s, AK-47s, and other top-notch firearms.
The accused were reportedly planning to either launch an attack on Salman Khan's farmhouse or carry out a car ambush.
A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed against over 17 individuals, including Goldy Brar, Sampat Nehra, Anmol Bishnoi, and
Lawrence Bishnoi. Navi Mumbai Police told the news agency that a further investigation into the matter is on.
This latest development follows the April 14 incident that happened in Bandra where
two men on bikes opened fire outside the Bollywood superstar’s apartment.
Both the accused, identified as Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal were later nabbed by Gujarat police.
On April 26, it was reported that another accused identified as Anuj Thapan and his associate were both arrested in Punjab.
However, on May 1, Thapan was found dead in the crime branch lock-up of the Mumbai police.
The Bombay High Court expressed concern about the ‘incomplete’ post-mortem report submitted to the court, according to the NDTV report.
The court observed that the report lacked crucial details, such as a ‘diagram of the ligature mark’ which was found on Thapan's neck.
Rita Devi, Thapan's mother, filed a plea claiming her son was tortured and physically abused while under police custody, the report added.
Meanwhile, Salman Khan's security was upgraded to Y-Plus in November 2022, due to threats from Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar.
Khan has reportedly purchased a new armoured vehicle for extra security and has been permitted to carry a personal firearm.
A threat email addressed to
Khan was received at his office in March last year.
As a result, the Mumbai Police filed a formal complaint under sections 34 (common intention), 506-II (criminal intimidation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) against the gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar as well as another individual.
Prashant Gunjalkar, who operated an artist management firm and allegedly visited Khan's Bandra home frequently, filed a complaint with the Bandra Police, which led to the filing of the FIR, according to PTI.
