Bishnoi gang’s plot to kill Salman Khan: Rs 25 lakh contract, modern weapons

A new chargesheet filed against five people accused of plotting to assassinate Salman Khan has revealed that a contract of Rs 25 lakh was given to kill the Bollywood actor.

The chargesheet, filed by Navi Mumbai police, further said that the accused, who belong to jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang, were planning to acquire modern weapons to kill Salman Khan.

On April 14, two men on motorbikes fired multiple rounds outside Salman Khan’s residence in Mumbai’s upscale Bandra. The gang planned to attack Salman Khan near his farmhouse in Panvel.

The gang planned to get weapons from abroad. Investigations have revealed that the gang intended to kill the actor with a Turkey-made Zigana pistol, which was used to shoot Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala in 2022.

One of the accused revealed during questioning that he was in touch with an arms dealer in Pakistan to procure M16, AK-47 and AK-92 rifles to carry out the alleged attack on the actor.

The police have registered a case against 17 people, including Lawrence Bishnoi and his younger brother Anmol Bishnoi, in connection with the firing outside Salman Khan’s home. Lawrence Bishnoi is presently lodged in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati prison.

Vivek Pansare, Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone II (Panvel), said the senior inspector of Panvel police station received inputs in September-October 2023 about a conspiracy to attack Salman.

Following the input, a team of Navi Mumbai police officers infiltrated the WhatsApp and other social media groups of the Bishnoi gang and began tracking the chatter on those platforms.

The police came to know that Lawrence Bishnoi gang members had recced Salman’s farmhouse in Panvel, the area around his home at Bandra in Mumbai and places he visited for film shooting.