Salman Khan Claims Firing Incident Was a Murder Attempt on Him and His Family

Bollywood star Salman Khan has informed the police that he suspects the Lawrence Bishnoi gang was responsible for the shooting at his residence in April, aiming to kill him and his family.

This statement forms part of the charge sheet submitted by the Mumbai Police to the court concerning the case. Khan recounted hearing a noise resembling a firecracker while asleep at his Galaxy Apartments residence on the morning of April 14. His police bodyguard notified him around 4:55 AM that two individuals on a motorcycle had fired shots at the first-floor balcony.

Khan mentioned that there had been previous attempts to harm him and his family, with his bodyguard filing a report about the shooting at the Bandra police station. Subsequently, Khan discovered that Lawrence Bishnoi and his brother Anmol Bishnoi had taken responsibility for the attack in a Facebook post.

The statement notes that Bishnoi and his gang had previously discussed plans to kill Khan and his relatives. Khan believes that the April shooting, carried out while his family was asleep, was a planned assassination attempt by Bishnoi and his associates. Khan reported receiving multiple threats over the years, including a threat letter found in 2022 and an email from the Bishnoi gang in March 2023. Additionally, two unidentified individuals tried to break into his Panvel farmhouse using false identities in January 2024.

The police have filed a 1,735-page charge sheet related to the shooting before the special court handling Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act cases. The court recently acknowledged the charge sheet, finding sufficient evidence to proceed against the six individuals arrested in connection with the case: Vickykumar Gupta, Sagarkumar Pal, Sonukumar Bishnoi, Anujkumar Thapan (deceased), Mohd Rafiq Choudhary, and Harpal Singh.

Anujkumar Thapan reportedly committed suicide in police custody after his arrest. The remaining five suspects are in judicial custody. Salman Khan's brother, actor-producer Arbaaz Khan, also provided testimony to the police about the threats and the attempted break-in at their Panvel farmhouse. Arbaaz, who was away at the time of the shooting, expressed his belief that the attack was orchestrated by Lawrence Bishnoi and his gang with the intent to harm his family.