New Delhi: An audio recording, purportedly of a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, has surfaced Friday in which a voice claims that comedian Kapil Sharma’s café in Canada was targeted with gunfire because actor Salman Khan had been invited to its inauguration.
On Thursday, shots were fired at the newly opened Kap’s Café in Surrey for the second time in less than a month.
In the recording, the individual identifies himself as Harry Boxer, a member of the Bishnoi syndicate. “The first and now second firing at Kapil Sharma’s restaurant happened because he had invited Salman Khan to the inauguration on a Netflix show,” he says.
The voice then proceeds to issue threats, saying that actors, directors and producers will be “shot in their chests with AK 47” without any further warnings if they work with Khan.
“We will ruin Mumbai’s atmosphere beyond your imagination… no one will be spared… if anyone works with him (Salman Khan). We will go to any limits. Anyone working with Salman Khan will be responsible for their own deaths,” says the voice.
ThePrint couldn’t independently verify the authenticity of the audio.
Salman Khan had appeared in the first episode of Season 3 of The Great Indian Kapil Show that premiered on Netflix on 21 June.
Lawrence Bishnoi has long been issuing threats against Khan, and his gang members were suspected involved in a firing incident at the actor’s Bandra residence last year.
The Bishnoi gang has taken issue with Khan over his killing of two blackbucks in Rajasthan in 1998. The gang accuses the actor of hurting their religious sentiments as the blackbuck is considered sacred by the Bishnoi community.
In a post on Facebook after Thursday’s firing, an account in the name of Goldy Dhillon, said to be a member of what was the Goldy Brar-Lawrence Bishnoi nexus until June this year before the break-up between the two gangsters, took credit for the firing.
The post mentioned that calls to Sharma weren’t answered and included a threat that the next message would be delivered in Mumbai. However, it didn’t provide clarity on the motive behind the firing.
Incidentally, after the first firing incident in July this year, a member of the banned Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Harjit Singh alias Laddi, wanted in India, in a purported post on Facebook claimed responsibility for the shooting at the cafe. The post cited comments made on The Kapil Sharma Show as the motive behind the attack.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: 2nd time in less than a month, shots fired at Kapil Sharma’s newly opened café in Canada