How Bishnoi gang’s latest attack on Salman has hit home

Like the recurring ‘sworn enemy’ theme of his many blockbuster movies, Salman Khan’s trysts with the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang get curiouser and curiouser with each threat and attempt to harm him.The latest episode played out at 5am on April 14 outside the famous covered balcony of Galaxy Apartments in Mumbai’s Bandra, whose veil occasionally lifts for the Bollywood actor to wave to adoring fans on his birthday or during festive occasions like Diwali and Eid.Salman was home with his family when the sound of gunfire within earshot presumably woke them up with a start.The assailants turned out to be two motorbike-borne, helmeted men suspected to be from the Bishnoi gang. Four empty shells and a live bullet were found, Mumbai Police said. One of the shells was on the balcony.Watch: What Mumbai DCP said about the attack medium nocaption109287692A social media post attributed to Anmol Bishnoi, jailed kingpin Lawrence Bishnoi’s younger brother, claimed responsibility for the attack. “This is the first and last warning… We want peace. If the only decision against oppression is war, then so be it. Salman Khan, we have done this to show you the trailer,” he purportedly wrote.Coming as it did just over three months after the January 4 security breach at Salman’s Panvel farmhouse in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, could this be getting more serious than it appeared when Lawrence, the elder of the Bishnoi brothers, kickstarted the saga in 2018?Blackbuck caseSalman, whose Bollywood nickname ‘Bhai’ evokes the archetypal gangster boss in movies, apparently fell foul of the Bishnoi gang after being convicted in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case.During a court appearance in 2018, soon after the actor’s conviction, the elder of the Bishnoi siblings announced, “We will kill Salman Khan in Jodhpur. Everyone will know once we take action.”The Bishnoi community considers blackbucks sacred and zealously protects them. medium109314459Since that first declaration of animosity and intent, there have been multiple threats and attempted attacks on the actor and his family, including a purported instance of mistaken identity.Last November, members of the Bishnoi gang fired shots at Punjabi singer Gippy Grewal’s house in Canada, supposedly mistaking him for one of Salman’s two brothers, Arbaaz and Sohail.Days after being named as the gang behind Punjabi rapper-singer Sidhu Moose Wala’s May 2022 murder, Salman and his scriptwriter father, Salim Khan, received yet another death threat from the Bishnoi brothers.Previous attempts to target Salman had all been thwarted, including a plan uncovered by Delhi Police to target the actor’s farmhouse. Three arrested suspects linked to Moose Wala’s murder revealed details of their plot to go after Salman. medium109314474The investigation revealed that the trio did a recce of the area near the farmhouse, intending to assassinate him en route. They rented a room nearby and observed the actor’s movements for over a month, according to HGS Dhaliwal, former chief of Delhi Police’s anti-terrorism unit.Earlier, in 2018, Lawrence’s associate Sampat Nehra planned to attack the actor at his Mumbai home. The gang procured a long-range RK spring rifle through an intermediary named Dinesh Dagar specifically for the attempt. Nehra was caught in Bengaluru before executing the plan.Multiple threadsMumbai Police suspect the involvement of outsiders in the latest attack targeting Salman’s home.Investigators are monitoring the movements of shooters associated with the Bishnoi brothers and their Europe-based accomplice Rohit Godara, who is suspected to be behind the killing of Karni Sena chief Sukhdev Gogamedi in Jaipur on December 5, 2023.One of the shooters on the radar is Vishal, alias Kalu, a Gurugram resident. A police officer said a man wearing a red T-shirt in CCTV footage from outside Salman’s home could be Vishal. He has been evading arrest since fatally shooting a businessman in Haryana’s Rohtak last month. medium109314497Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde spoke to Salman over the phone and assured him of enhanced security — the actor has Y+ cover — after the April 14 attack.Terming the firing “unfortunate”, Shinde said, “I have spoken to the police commissioner and other senior officers and told them to take care of Salman’s security. Police will nab the accused soon.”Politics at playAmid the Opposition’s allegations of “law-and-order failure” in the state, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio, said, “The real information will come out from the police investigation… it won’t be right to speculate and interpret this incident as a breakdown of law and order.”Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) MP Supriya Sule questioned what would constitute a breakdown in law and order if the attack on Salman’s home wasn’t a manifestation of this.“The area where Salman Khan lives is crowded... people’s lives are at risk. It seems that it is ‘Ab ki baar, golibar sarkar’ (This time around, a government that promotes firing),” she said.“Many sections of society, including myself, are facing attacks. The Centre’s data has also highlighted the fact that the crime rate in Maharashtra has spiked. An MLA of the governing party fired bullets at an individual from his revolver inside a police station. So, firing is not a big deal for this government,” she added.Watch: Supriya Sule slams Maha home ministry medium nocaptionhttp://youtu.be/IkNU2mNbKEs?si=F1qLIw3Olft9JTg4Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut joined in the barrage of criticism. “The CM and home minister are busy in politics and campaigning and targeting the Opposition… The government is busy filing fake cases against political rivals. The [Salman] incident is a message that bullets can be fired anywhere and anytime in Mumbai. The entire police department is in the service of traitors who have joined the BJP,” he alleged.Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad posted on X, “If such an incident can happen at the house of a person with such high security, then what about the common people? Such incidents are increasing because our police and agencies have been put behind Opposition leaders instead of goons. It is true that the chief minister and deputy chief minister, who is also the home minister, are currently busy in the tug-of-war over seat sharing, but does this mean that the safety of the public should be put at stake?”