Fifth person arrested in shocking plot to assassinate Salman Khan

Police from Panvel, Navi Mumbai, on Sunday arrested 30-year-old Deepak Gogalia from Bhiwani town in the northern State of Haryana. They had earlier arrested four members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang from Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.

The police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) and named 18 persons, booking them under sections 115 (abetment of offence punishable), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 506(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

On April 14, two men on a motorcycle had opened fire outside Khan’s residence in Bandra, Mumbai.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Vivek Pansare told media on Saturday that Nitin Thackeray, a senior inspector at Panvel police station, had received intelligence on the conspiracy to kill the popular Bollywood star last year around the month of September.

Their probe found that four gang members had been going around Khan’s farmhouse in Panvel, his residence in Bandra and at sites where he was scheduled to appear for film shooting.

Members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang planned to attack Khan’s car in Panvel with AK-47s and M16s, smuggled across the Pakistan border in the State of Rajasthan. The planned escape route for the group was on boats from the southern city of Kanyakumari to neighbouring Sri Lanka.

The informant had told the police that members of the gang had been staying in Panvel and Kalamboli for the past few days and awaiting orders from Bishnoi to launch the attack.

Gogalia, who has now been brought to Panvel after being sent on remand by the local court, was supposed to provide accommodation and vehicles to the other accused. Police said he was also part of a WhatsApp group with the other accused and had contacted them via video calls. He was in Mumbai until two weeks ago, before visiting his hometown Bhiwani.

After the firing incident outside Khan’s residence, police arrested four suspects – Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal in Gujarat, and two others in Punjab on April 26.