Salman Khan again targeted; crime branch probes firing at actor’s Mumbai home

Mumbai, Apr 14: With Bollywood megastar Salman Khan again targeted, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch entered the scene to probe at least three-four bullets fired at the actor’s Bandra West home early this morning, officials said on Sunday.

The chilling act was committed by at least two unidentified persons sporting helmets who came speeding on a motorcycle and fired at least four shots in the direction of Galaxy Apartment, before zooming off on the dark and deserted road.

For the past several years, Salman Khan and his family have been facing death threats from certain Punjab-based mafia groups like the Bishnoi gang.

In the past couple of years, he and his father Salim Khan have been issued death threats in different ways, including dropping a letter to the family.

It was not immediately known if Salman Khan was at home or not on a weekend holiday just after the Ramzan Eid celebrations.

On learning of the incident, a Bandra Police team rushed to the Khan household and launched preliminary investigations, and also tightened security in the vicinity.

The police are scanning the CCTV footage in the area to trace out the shooters and check their motives and targets, and more details are awaited.

Hours later, a Crime Branch and Forensic Team with ballistics experts also arrived on the scene and found at least one bullet mark on the gate of the building entrance.

Salman Khan, 58, lives with almost his entire joint family comprising parents, brothers and their kin at the landmark Galaxy Apartments on the picturesque Bandra sea-face area of suburban north-west Mumbai.

For several years, Salim Khan and Salman Khan have been getting death threats from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang after the 1998 blackbuck poaching incident in Rajasthan.

In 2022, while on a morning stroll near his home, Salim Khan found a note saying “Salim Khan…Salman Khan… bahut jald aapka Moose Wala hoga” -- a reference to Sidhu Moose Wala, a Punjabi rapper, who was brutally shot dead near his home on May 29, 2022, shaking the entertainment industry.

Following the multiple threats to the Mumbai-based actor, the city police have upgraded the security cover of Salman Khan, plus issued him a permit for a gun licence and last year, the actor acquired a new bullet-proof SUV as additional protection to move around.