Making the second such arrest in quick succession, the Mumbai Police have arrested a man for threatening to kill actor Salman Khan.
The Mumbai Traffic Police’s control room had received an anonymous message threatening to kill the actor if Rs 2 crore was not given as ransom. A case was registered by the Mumbai Police and, officials said, Azam Mohammad Mustafa – a resident of Bandra East – was arrested on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Gufran Khan, a 20-year-old tattoo artist from Noida, had been arrested for threatening Salman Khan and Bandra East MLA Zeeshan Siddique.
Mr Siddique is the son of former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique, who was shot dead in Bandra on October 12. Baba Siddique was known to be close to Salman Khan and had played a role in ending the actor’s five-year-long cold war with Shah Rukh Khan in 2013.
The tattoo artist, who had been arrested by the Mumbai Police, said he had planned to send another threatening message to demand money but was apprehended before he could do so.
The Lawrence Bishnoi gang had claimed responsibility for the firing outside Salman Khan’s residence in Bandra in April and, in a Facebook post, also said it was responsible for Baba Siddique’s murder.
The post from the handle of one Shubuu Lonkar, believed to be Bishnoi gang associate Shubham Rameshwar Lonkar, claimed that Siddique had been killed because he was linked to India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, was close to Salman Khan and because of the death of Anuj Thapan, one of the arrested suspects in the shooting outside Mr Khan’s house, in police custody.
“We do not have any enmity with anyone but whoever helps Salman Khan and the Dawood gang, keep your accounts in order (‘hisaab-kitaab kar lena’),” Lonkar wrote in Hindi in the Facebook post.
Why Salman Khan?
The Bishnoi gang, which became a household name after claiming responsibility for murdering musician Sidhu Moose Wala in 2022, has said it wants to kill Salman Khan because of his alleged involvement in shooting blackbucks at Bawad in Mathania near Jodhpur in September 1998, during the filming of ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’.
The alleged act had upset the Bishnoi community, which considers the blackbuck sacred.
Lawrence Bishnoi had said during a court appearance in 2018: “We will kill Salman Khan in Jodhpur. Everyone will know once we take action. I have not done anything as of now, they are accusing me of crimes for no reason.”