Man held for plotting to kill Salman, was in touch with Pak handler

The Navi Mumbai police have arrested a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang in connection with an alleged plot to kill Bollywood actor Salman Khan, an official said on Thursday.

The accused, Sukha alias Sukhbir Balbir Singh, was apprehended from Panipat in Haryana by a team of Panvel Town police (in Navi Mumbai) on Wednesday, he said.

He had allegedly given a contract to Bishnoi gang members to kill Khan, the official said.

Sukhbir Singh was in touch with his alleged handler Dogar, who is based in Pakistan, he said.

Singh along with the Bishnoi gang members had planned to use weapons from Pakistan, such as AK-47s, M16s and AK92s, to execute the alleged plot to kill Salman Khan, the official said.

He will be produced before a court after being brought to Navi Mumbai, the police said.

The Navi Mumbai police will also interrogate Sukhbir Singh in connection with the case of murder of Nationalist Congress Party leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, the official said.

On April 24 this year, the Navi Mumbai police registered a case against 18 identified accused and others of the Bishnoi gang for hatching a conspiracy to kill Salman Khan, he said.

The development followed a firing outside the actor's Bandra residence in Mumbai by Bishnoi gang members.

Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, his brother Anmol, Sampat Nehra, Goldie Brar and Rohit Godhara were among the persons named as accused in the FIR, the official said.

The Navi Mumbai police had in this case arrested five Bishnoi gang members - Dhananjay alias Ajay Kashyap alias Nahvi, Gaurav Bhatia, Waspi Khan alias Wasim Chikna, Rizwan Khan alias Javed, and Deepak Hawa Singh alias John, he said.

After the arrests, police in June claimed to have uncovered a plot to target the actor on his way to his farmhouse near Panvel in Navi Mumbai.

During the investigation, it also came to light that Lawrence Bishnoi and Sampat Nehra gangs had deployed around 60 to 70 members to monitor Khan's movements as part of efforts to conduct recce at his Bandra residence, Panvel farmhouse and film shooting locations.

The accused persons were trying to use minors as sharp-shooters, using weapons from Pakistan, the official said.

Khan had told police that he believed the Lawrence Bishnoi gang carried out the firing at his residence with the intention to kill him and his family members.

The actor's statement is part of the charge sheet filed by Mumbai police in a court here in connection with the incident.

Two unidentified persons tried to trespass into his farmhouse near Panvel using fake identities in January 2024, the actor had noted.

In 2022, a threat letter was found on a bench opposite his building, while in March 2023, they received an email threat from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, Khan had told police.