Mumbai: One of the four men arrested in connection with the shooting incident outside actor Salman Khan’s house has died in a Mumbai hospital after allegedly attempting suicide in police custody.
Anuj Thapan, 32, was accused of supplying arms to the two men who opened fire outside Khan’s Bandra home in the early hours of 14 April.
A co-accused in the same crime is Sonu Subhash Chander, 37, also in custody of the Mumbai crime branch.
Thapan, who was arrested from Punjab on 26 April, alongwith Chander allegedly handed the shooters — Vicky Gupta, 24 and Sagar Pal, 21 — two country-made pistols and cartridges on 15 March, according to the Mumbai Police. Gupta and Pal were later apprehended in Gujarat.
In the early hours of 14 April, Gupta and Pal fired five rounds outside the Bollywood actor’s home and were caught on CCTV fleeing on a motorcycle. Hailing from Bihar, they had no past criminal record and met in Haryana while working as daily wage labourers.
The Mumbai Police had issued a lookout circular (LOC) last week for Anmol Bishnoi, the younger brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, in connection with the firing. Lawrence is imprisoned in Sabarmati, Gujarat.
Anmol Bishnoi claimed responsibility and an initial probe revealed his involvement, officers said last week. “Anmol and Lawrence Bishnoi have been named as wanted accused in the case. Anmol stays in Canada and travels to the USA. However, the IP address of the Facebook post, through which he claimed responsibility for the firing, was traced to Portugal,” an officer told news agency PTI.
Thapan and Chander are from Fazilka, which is close to Lawrence Bishnoi’s place in Punjab.
Also read: Firing outside Salman Khan’s home: Lookout circular issued against Anmol Bishnoi