Mateen Hafeez (THE TIMES OF INDIA; April 15, 2025)
Mumbai: A year after shots were fired outside Salman Khan’s Bandra residence, Worli traffic police’s helpline on Sunday received a WhatsApp message threatening to enter the actor’s house and kill him and blow up his car with a bomb. Within 24 hours of filing the FIR, Worli police identified the sender as Mayank Pandya (25) from Vadodara in Gujarat and detained him.
“Using technical intelligence, we tracked down Pandya at his Vadodara residence. As he is undergoing treatment for a mental illness, we have issued him a notice and asked him to join the investigation,” said a police officer.
The threat message, written in Hindi, was sent between 6.27 am and 6.29 am on Sunday, said police. During questioning, Pandya said he recently joined a social media group where learnt about the Lawrence Bishnoi gang targeting Salman, the officer added.
A Worli police team, led by senior inspector Ravindra Katkar, is probing the case.
In the last three years, Salman and his family members, including his father Salim Khan, have received multiple threats from the Bishnoi gang due to the actor’s alleged involvement in the 1998 blackbuck killing case during the shooting of ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ in Rajasthan. Blackbucks are considered sacred by the Bishnoi community.
The Bishnoi syndicate allegedly wanted to assassinate Salman before killing Punjabi pop singer Sidhu Moose Wala. Just days after Moose Wala’s death in 2022, Salim’s security team found a threat letter at Bandra Bandstand promenade. Salman’s security was then elevated to Y-plus category.
In the wee hours of April 14, 2024, two bike-borne men, allegedly belonging to the Bishnoi gang, fired multiple rounds outside the actor’s residence, Galaxy Apartments. Seven men were arrested, but one of them, Anuj Thapan, allegedly hanged himself in police lock-up. In May 2024, Navi Mumbai police arrested five men who were allegedly planning an ambush near Salman’s Panvel farmhouse using sophisticated weapons. In Oct and Nov 2024, four separate messages threatening to kill Salman were received on Worli traffic police’s helpline number.
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An individual sent Mumbai Police a message, threatening to ‘barge into’ the actor’s house, and plant a bomb in his car
HINDUSTAN TIMES (April 15, 2025)
Actor Salman Khan received yet another death threat from an unknown individual in the early hours of Sunday, Mumbai Police has said.
The message, directed to the actor, was sent to the Worli traffic police’s WhatsApp helpline number; the sender threatened to “barge into” the actor’s Bandra residence and “blow up Salman Khan’s car with a bomb.”
“A threat sent to WhatsApp number of Transport Department in Worli, Mumbai yesterday,” a police statement confirmed on Monday.
Following this, a case has been registered against the unknown sender under section 351(2) (3) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at the Worli Police Station.
This comes almost exactly a year after two bike-borne men fired several rounds of gun shots outside the 59-year-old’s building, Galaxy Apartments, as an apparent warning. Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi claimed responsibility for the firing — Salman has been on his hitlist ever since the 1998 Blackbuck poaching case. Following the incident, the actor was given a Y+ security detail for protection.
In October last year, Mumbai Police intercepted a message demanding Rs. 5 crore or an apology from the actor in exchange for sparing his life.
“He (Salman) should go to our temple and apologize or give Rs. 5 crore. If he does not do so, we will kill him, our gang is still active,” read the message. The sender had claimed to be Lawrence’s brother, gangster Anmol Bishnoi.
On October 12, Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique was shot dead by members of Lawrence’s gang. The 66-year-old was known to be one of Salman’s close friends. In March 2023, the actor reportedly received death threats from gangster Goldy Brar. A year earlier, a threatening letter was found on a bench near Salman’s residence.