A man illegally entered a location where Salman Khan was shooting for a film in Mumbai and, when questioned, asked whether he should call gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, police sources said.
The officials said Mr Khan was shooting for a film in Dadar’s Shivaji Park area on Wednesday when the man entered the venue. Finding his movements suspicious, some people asked him what he was doing, only for the man to respond: “Bishnoi ko bulau kya? (Should I call Lawrence Bishnoi?)”.
The man has been taken to the Shivaji Park police station, where he is being questioned.
The Bishnoi gang had claimed responsibility for the shooting outside Salman Khan’s house in Mumbai’s Bandra in April. The actor’s name had also come up when the Bishnoi gang said it had killed former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique in Bandra in October. A member of the gang had allegedly said that the politician was close to Salman Khan and that anyone who helped the actor would also be in its crosshairs.
The actor has been receiving a string of threats, especially since Baba Siddique’s killing, and some of them have also turned out to be fake. Last month, a 24-year-old lyricist of a song in an upcoming Salman Khan was arrested for sending a threat to the actor and himself, purportedly from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Police had said the lyricist had called the Mumbai traffic control room and issued the threat because he wanted the song, which mentions Bishnoi, to get publicity.
In October, another person had called up the Mumbai police control room and threatened that the actor would be killed unless he paid Rs 2 crore as ransom.
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 also 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.”