'Close aide of Lawrence Bishnoi sent death threat to Salman Khan'
Darpan News Desk IANS, 09 Jun, 2022 11:55 AM
New Delhi, June 9 (IANS) The person who sent the death threat to Bollywood megastar Salman Khan and his father, film writer Salim Khan, has been identified as Vikram Brar, a close aide of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, police sources said on Thursday.
Brar, who is currently said to be aboard, is reportedly facing two dozen criminal cases lodged against him in several states.
"Brar is a resident of Rajasthan's Hanumangarh but presently he is living abroad. He is a known gangster of Rajasthan. He was having good rapport with Anmol, the brother of gangster Anandpal, who was killed in an encounter," the police source said.
The Mumbai Police had also suspected the possible involvement of the Bishnoi gang, and as a precaution, beefed up security at the Khans' residence in Galaxy Apartments, Bandra West, since last Sunday.
Joint Commissioner of Police Vishwas Nangre-Patil had also met Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil to brief him.
Mumbai Police had suspicion that the potential attackers may have conducted a discreet recce of the Khans' local movements and their residence.
Bishnoi had earlier vowed to kill Salman Khan after the actor was accused in the black buck poaching case of 1998 in Rajasthan.
Salim Khan, 87, was handed over an unsigned, hand-written threat letter by an unknown person on a bench where he normally rests after jogging at the Bandra Bandstand promenade, around 7.30 am. on Sunday.
It was addressed to him and his son Salman and facing something amiss, they immediately alerted their security to inform the police.
Taking serious cognisance, the Bandra police had lodged an FIR against unknown persons for issuing the death threats and launched their probe. The Mumbai Police Crime Branch had also started its own investigations.
The threat letter ended with a couple of initials including 'L.B.' which the police suspected refers to 'Lawrence Bishnoi.
The area around the Intelligence Bureau office has been sealed and investigation is in progress. A bomb disposal and forensic squads have been positioned at the spot. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann spoke to Director General of Police V.K. Bhawra and sought details about the incident.
Notably, the police detained several people, including party workers, who were not allowing the SDMC to carry out the demolition drive at Shaheen Bagh. After the agitation was quelled, the bulldozer moved forward to demolish the illegal encroachment, an iron structure in front of a building. It is at this juncture that Khan reached the spot and was seen speaking to the officials.
Punjab shares a 553-km barbed-wire fenced international border with Pakistan which is under the vigil of nearly 135 BSF battalions. The drug network operates along the Afghanistan-Pakistan-India route.
Police are looking at this angle. The incident took place near Kengeri at 1 a.m. and the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals. According to the police, the bus had first hit the 4-feet tall road divider and then rammed into the Namma Metro Pillar number 545.
Chairing a meeting of the Special Task Force (STF) team led by its chief Harpreet Sidhu here, Mann said neither political persons nor officers would be spared if found conniving with the drug mafia. He told the police officers to work freely without any political pressure with a sharpened focus to make Punjab a drug-free state.
According to the SHO of Cantonment police station, Rajeev Singh, Ram Lakhan's wife informed the police that her husband had confessed to killing their son following a fight with her. A police team went looking for the 'body' but could not find the child.
