Mumbai Cyber Police have filed charges against a 25-year-old man from Rajasthan who was arrested for making threatening videos against Bollywood star Salman Khan. Banwarilal Laturlal Gujar, who hails from a village in Bundi district, allegedly discussed the Bishnoi Gang in a YouTube video and hinted at plans to harm Salman.
Gujar was caught from Boarda village after a team was dispatched to probe the matter, considering the seriousness of the threat. A case was registered at South Cyber Police Station under sections 506(2), 504, 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and section 66(d) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, against him.
This development came as Mumbai Police earlier this week recorded statements of Salman and his brother Arbaaz Khan in connection with the incident of firing outside the family’s residence in April. A four-member crime branch team visited Galaxy Apartments in Bandra, where Salman lives, on June 4.
Salman’s statement was recorded for nearly four hours, while his brother’s statement was recorded for more than two hours. Two motorbike-borne men fired multiple rounds outside Salman Khan’s residence in the early hours of April 14. While recording their statements, the crime branch officials asked Salman and Arbaaz around 150 questions, the official said.
Salman Khan has taken the incident seriously, realizing that there was a threat to his life, and appreciated the efforts taken by the Mumbai police to nab the culprits, he said. In his statement, Salman told the police that he was home on the day of the incident, having returned late at night. The sound of a bullet that hit his flat’s balcony woke him up, the official said, citing the statement.
Arbaaz Khan was at his Juhu residence at the time, but his statement too was recorded as he was aware of the history of threats issued by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to Salman, the official said. Police have claimed that the Bishnoi gang was behind the incident. The gang had issued threats to Salman Khan in the past, but so far, its members have not tried to extort money from the actor, the police official said.
Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, alleged shooters involved in the April 14 firing incident, were subsequently arrested from Gujarat. A total of six persons were arrested in the case. One of them, Anuj Thapan, allegedly hanged himself in police lock-up on May 1. In a separate case, Navi Mumbai Police earlier this month arrested five persons, including an alleged member of Bishnoi and Goldier Brar gangs from Haryana, in connection with a plot to attack Salman Khan.
Four gang members had recce’d Khan’s farmhouse in Panvel, the area around his home in Bandra, and places he visited for film shooting, police had said. Lawrence Bishnoi is currently lodged in the Sabarmati Central Prison in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad in a different case, and Mumbai police will now move a court to seek his custody, the official said. His brother Anmol, believed to be in Canada, has been shown as a wanted accused in the firing case.
(With agency inputs)
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