Bollywood actor Salman Khan, in his statement given to the police, has claimed that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang had targeted his home in April this year in an attempt to kill him and his family members.
The investigators have included his statements in their 1,735-page charge sheet filed in a Mumbai court earlier this month.
The actor said he was asleep when he heard a firecracker-like sound in the early hours of April 14. His police bodyguard later informed Salman that two people on a motorbike had fired at the first-floor balcony.
The actor told the cops that Lawrence Bishnoi and his gang members, who later confessed and took responsibility of the attack, had talked about killing him and his relatives earlier, too.
"So, I believe that Lawrence Bishnoi, with the help of his gang members, carried out the firing incident when my family members were sleeping and (they were) planning to kill me and my family members,” he said.
In his statement, Salman also mentioned the instances of threat messages he had received in the past. In 2022, a threat letter was found on a bench opposite his building, while in March 2023, they received an email threat from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. In January 2024, two unidentified persons tries to trespass into his farmhouse near Panvel using fake ID cards.
The chargesheet was filed before the special court for Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act cases earlier this month.
Police also recorded the statement of the actor’s brother Arbaaz Khan though he was not present at the flat at the time of the attack.
On April 14, two motorbike-borne people opened fire outside Salman's residence in the Bandra area of Mumbai. Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, the alleged shooters, were subsequently arrested from Gujarat. Police so far have arrested six persons in connection with the case. However, one of the accused, Anuj Thapan, allegedly hanged himself in a police lock-up on May 1.
Lawrence Bishnoi, currently lodged in the Sabarmati central prison in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, and his younger brother Anmol Bishnoi, who is believed to be in the US or Canada, have been named in the firing case.