The Mumbai Crime Branch, tasked with investigating the firing outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan's residence, has proclaimed the infamous gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his sibling Anmol Bishnoi as wanted criminals. Concurrently, the police have appended three new sections to the FIR lodged against the accused, including the Indian Penal Code's sections for issuing threats (506(2)), incitement (115), and destruction of evidence (201).
Prior to the apprehension of Sagar Kumar Pal and Vikky Gupta in this case by the Mumbai police, charges under the attempt to murder (IPC section 307) and Arms Act were registered. The case was filed based on statements from the security guard stationed at Salman Khan's Galaxy Apartments. Post their detention in Gujarat and subsequent interrogations, additional charges were incorporated.
On the morning of April 14th, assailants Sagar Kumar Pal and Vikky Gupta fired a barrage of bullets outside Salman Khan's home and swiftly fled the scene. In response, Mumbai police commenced a scan of all CCTV cameras along the route near the actor's residence. They also scrutinized active mobile numbers in the area based on dump data. The scrutiny of the CCTV footage yielded clear images of the assailants.
The footage distinctly captured the faces of the duo as they transitioned on foot from one location to another, abandoning their motorcycle. Because of the clarity of the images, police were able to examine the features of the perpetrators, including Sagar Kumar Pal's distinctive beard style and prominent nose.
Technical surveillance meanwhile had indicated that the duo had fled Mumbai for Gujarat. They were tracked moving from Surat to Ahmedabad, then towards Kutch, or more specifically towards Bhuj. Following closely, two Mumbai police teams also navigated towards the same direction. However, upon nearing Nakhtrana in the Bhuj region, abruptly both switched their mobile phones off. Coincidentally, at the location where the phones were turned off, there was a crossroad.
With the cooperation of Bhuj police, Mumbai Crime Branch teams decided to scour each of those three directions. Since the phones were off, technical tracking was no longer feasible, prompting officers to rely on recollections of the duo's appearance. Engaging in a manual search, police began questioning locals about the shooters based on their descriptions.
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Source: aajtak
After an intense 900-kilometer chase from Mumbai to Nakhtrana, a local shopkeeper provided the breakthrough, noting he had recently seen two young men matching the description, one with a soul-patch beard. The targeting of budget hotels, lodges, dharmashalas, and temples where stay overs weren't closely monitored began.
The police's perseverance paid off. In the Mata Nu Math temple in Nakhtrana, they apprehended the exhausted runaways resting within the temple premises. The pair had taken numerous precautions post-shootout. They had switched off their mobile numbers used prior to the incident, changed clothes, and repeatedly altered their modes of transport.
A misstep involving a mobile phone, however, provided the police with consistent updates on Sagar Kumar Pal's whereabouts. After deactivating his old SIM card, Sagar inserted a new one in his phone, mistakenly believing it untraceable by police. But the police were already on high alert. An innocent call Sagar made to his brother allowed the police to once again track his location, pursue him, and find him in Nakhtrana despite the switched-off phone.
Source: aajtak
Now, both shooters are in police custody. Interrogations revealed that they were tasked not with assassinating Salman Khan, but merely to intimidate him. For this job, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang paid them a contract fee of four lakh rupees, with one lakh disbursed before the deed. It has been revealed that Sagar, who had prior work experience in Haryana, had encountered some of the Bishnoi gang's henchmen there. They had initiated contact with him.
