If he wants to stay alive...: Salman gets fresh threat

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has received a fresh threat along with a demand of Rs 5 crore from a person claiming to brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, officials said on Tuesday.

IMAGE: Bollywood actor Salman Khan has previously faced threats from the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Photograph: ANI Photo

The threat message, which also asked Khan to apologise apparently over an alleged blackbuck poaching incident, was received at the Mumbai traffic police control room located in Worli area late Monday night, an official said.

The message sender claimed he is brother of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, the police official said.

“If Salman Khan wants to stay alive, he should go to our (Bishnoi community) temple and apologise or pay Rs 5 crore. If he does not do so, we will kill him; our gang is still active,” the message said.

Taking serious cognisance of the message, an on-duty security officer informed about it to the higher-ups and Worli police, the official said.

Police are probing the origin of the threat message and have beefed up security measures for Salman Khan, sources said.

The police are also checking if the message is linked to Lawrence Bishnoi, who is lodged at the Sabarmati jail in Gujarat on various charges, including attempted murder and extortion, they added.

Khan has earlier also received threats along with the demand for money.

On October 29, a man sent a threat message on the traffic police's WhatsApp helpline number, threatening to kill Khan and Maharashtra NCP leader Zeeshan Siddique if they failed to pay up Rs 2 crore.

The person in the message warned the two will meet the same fate as former state minister Baba Siddique, father of Zeeshan Siddique, and his warning should not be treated as a joke, he said.

Baba Siddique was shot dead by three gunmen in the Bandra area on October 12.

The police on October 30 arrested a man, resident of Bandra (West), an upscale area where Khan also resides, in that connection and recovered the mobile phone and the SIM card used in the crime, an official earlier said.

Earlier last month, the Mumbai traffic police's WhatsApp helpline desk had received a threat message demanding Rs 5 crore from the actor. The police subsequently arrested a man from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand in connection with the threat message.

The Mumbai police last month also arrested a man from Noida in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly issuing a death threat to Khan and Zeeshan Siddique.

Notably, Khan had earlier also received death threats from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Suspected members of the dreaded gang opened fire outside the actor's Bandra home in April this year.

A few months back, the Navi Mumbai police uncovered a plot by the Bishnoi gang to kill Khan after which his security was stepped up.