Haryana: The arrest of a sharpshooter of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, allegedly involved in the murder of a resident has led Faridabad police to uncover what they claim was a plot to murder actor Salman Khan.
According to police, the sharpshooter, Rahul alias Sanga, on Bishnoi’s directions earlier this year, had already conducted a recce in Mumbai to murder the actor.
Rahul alias Sanga alias Baba alias Sunni (27) is accused of murdering Praveen, a Faridabad resident who ran a ration depot, on June 24. Rahul hails from Bhiwani and was arrested from Uttarakhand on August 15.
Bishnoi is currently lodged in a prison in Rajasthan.
“During questioning, it has emerged that Rahul had travelled to Mumbai in January to conduct a recce for the murder of Salman Khan. He went to the actor’s house in Bandra for the purpose and stayed in the area for two days,” said, DCP, Rajesh Duggal, Indian Express reported.
“He conducted this recce at the behest of Bishnoi and Sampat Nehra, another member of the gang, who had also conducted a recce to plan for the same crime before he was arrested in June 2018,” he said.
Sampat Nehra had been arrested from Hyderabad.
Bishnoi community
Lawrence Bishnoi is a member of the Bishnoi community, which reveres black bucks. Khan had in 1998 killed two black bucks in Jodhpur may have led to Bishnoi holding a grudge against him, said the police.
“Rahul conducted the recce on the directions of Bishnoi and later apprised him of the findings. However, they were unable to take their plan to the next stage because of the coronavirus outbreak,” said the DCP.
Unlike Nehra, who police say was Bishnoi’s “right hand man”, Rahul was a relatively newer member of the gang.
“Between 2016 and 2018, he was working at the ESIC Hospital in Faridabad on a temporary basis. In 2018, he was arrested by the Crime Branch Badkhal for possession of an illegal weapon. After being released on bail, he joined the Bishnoi gang in August 2019 ,” said DCP Duggal, The Indian Express reported.
“He would commit different crimes with different accomplices on the directions of Lawrence Bishnoi. In the last six months alone, he committed four murders,” said DCP Duggal.
“Rahul was also involved in two cases of car snatching in November 2019, and the same year, he was also involved in enabling the release of two prisoners from police custody. In January this year, Rahul had also conducted the recce for a murder in Rajasthan,” police said.
“He has been produced in court and remanded in police custody for further questioning,” said Sube Singh, PRO of Faridabad Police on Tuesday evening.