The arrest of a sharpshooter of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, allegedly involved in the murder of a Faridabad resident in June, has led police to uncover what they claim was a plot to murder actor Salman Khan. According to police, the sharpshooter had already conducted a recce in Mumbai on Bishnoi’s directions earlier this year. Bishnoi is currently lodged in a prison in Rajasthan. According to police, the accused, Rahul alias Sanga alias Baba alias Sunni (27), hails from Bhiwani and was arrested from Uttarakhand on August 15. He is accused of murdering Praveen, a Faridabad resident who ran a ration depot, on June 24.“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 Rajesh Duggal, DCP (Headquarters).“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. Nehra had been arrested from Hyderabad for allegedly plotting Khan’s murder, also at the behest of Bishnoi. Lawrence Bishnoi is a member of the Bishnoi community, which reveres black bucks. According to police, the fact that Khan had in 1998 killed two black bucks in Jodhpur led to Bishnoi holding a grudge against him. 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.