The Mumbai High Court on Monday said that Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, encouraged the shooters to fire outside Salman Khan's house with the "intention or knowledge" of killing him. The court made this remark while rejecting the bail plea of Vicky Gupta, one of the accused. Two shooters had fired bullets outside Salman Khan's Galaxy Apartments in Bandra, Mumbai, in April. The bail plea was denied by Special MCOCA judge BD Shelke on October 18, with the detailed order released on Monday.
The court order revealed that Vicky Gupta and his associate, Sagar Pal, fired shots near Salman Khan's residence, Galaxy Apartments in Bandra West, on the morning of April 14. Judge Shelke highlighted that the FIR clearly described two men arriving on a motorcycle, with the pillion rider firing at the first floor of the actor’s house.
"The statement of the victim (Salman Khan) demonstrates that he being a celebrity, there are many fans of him from society and he used to come to the gallery on the first floor of his house to greet them. Even in the early morning he used to stay in the gallery on the first floor of his house," the court said.
Gangster Anmol Bishnoi claimed responsibility for the firing outside Salman Khan's Mumbai home, which has put the police and authorities on high alert. Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde called the actor after news broke that six bullets were fired at his residence. Anmol Bishnoi is currently in California, Times Now quotes sources as saying. He is the brother of Lawrence Bishnoi, who is in jail for the murder of singer Sidhu Moosewala.
Anmol Bishnoi, who is also accused in the case, fled India using a fake passport after the murder of Sidhu Moosewala. He was traced to Azerbaijan a year ago but managed to escape. His aide, Sachin Thapan, was extradited from Azerbaijan for his involvement in the Moosewala murder case. Anmol was last seen at a wedding in the U.S., traveling under the fake name Bhanu Pratap from Rohtak, Haryana.
A Facebook profile claiming to belong to Anmol shared a post after the shooting outside Salman Khan's house, calling the incident a "trailer" and warning of worse consequences in the future. This post was shared around 11:30 am, about five hours after the firing at Galaxy Apartments.