Salman Khan firing case: Lawrence Bishnoi, brother declared 'wanted accused' in case

Salman Khan and Lawrence Bishnoi

Mumbai police has declared jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his younger brother Anmol Bishnoi as "wanted accused" in connection with the incident of firing outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan's residence here, an official said on Saturday, reported news agency PTI.

Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, arrested in the case earlier this week, were allegedly receiving instructions from the two Bishnoi brothers, he said.

While Lawrence Bishnoi is lodged in the Sabarmati central prison in Gujarat in another case, his brother is believed to be in Canada or the US, the official said, adding that Mumbai Police is likely to seek Lawrence's custody soon, reported PTI.

The crime branch of police, which is investigating the case, has added Indian Penal Code sections 506 (2) (criminal intimidation with a threat to cause death or serious injury) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence or giving false information to shield offender) to the First Information Report (FIR), the official further informed.

Police had registered the FIR under IPC section 307 (attempt to murder) after two motorbike-borne men fired at Galaxy Apartment in Bandra, Salman Khan's residence, in the early morning of April 14, reported PTI.

On April 16, police arrested Gupta and Pal from Bhuj in Gujarat. Pal allegedly fired the shots while Gupta was riding the motorbike, officials claimed, reported PTI.

A Facebook post taking responsibility for the attack, created in the name of Anmol Bishnoi, surfaced after the incident.

The IP address from where the post had been uploaded was traced to Portugal, the official said. Notably, it had been uploaded three hours before the firing incident. The Facebook account in Anmol's name was created by using a foreign mobile number, the police official added.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai police launched a search after a caller claimed that a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang would execute a "major" plan here. The call was found to be a hoax, an official said on Saturday, reported PTI.

Around midnight on Friday, the police control room received a call, with the man on the other side claiming that a member of Lawrence Bishnoi gang would be arriving at Dadar railway station.

The man said the henchman of the jailed gangster would be executing a "major" plan, prompting the city police and Railway Protection Force (RPF) to conduct a thorough search of the Dadar station at night, the official said, reported PTI.

The cops did not find any suspicious individual there, he said, adding that the call was labelled as a hoax.

"The police are currently trying to trace the caller using the phone number," he said.

(With inputs from PTI)