Killers were offered Rs 25 lakh to kill the actor

The Navi Mumbai Police chargesheet in the Salman Khan murder case by the Bishnoi gang has revealed chilling details of the murder and the escape plot. The gang was monitoring Khan’s movements from his Bandra house to his Panvel farmhouse and Film City. They had planned to kill him in the same manner as Sidhu Moose Wala, with weapons like AK-47, M16 and AK-92.

The shooters were offered a contract worth Rs 250,000 to kill Salman Khan. The planning took place between August 2023 and April 2024 before the Panvel police made the first arrest in the case.

Zishaan Zakrul Hassan; Vaspi Mehmood Khan; Gaurav Bhatia; Jean-Pierre Bélanger; Deepak Singh, all accused

Panvel police have booked several members of the Bishnoi gang. The accused have been identified as Dhananjay Singh alias Ajay Kashyap, arrested from Uttar Pradesh, Gaurav Bhatia alias Nahayi alias Sandeep Bishnoi, arrested from Gujarat, Vaspi Mehmood Khan alias Waseem Chikna, arrested from Sambhaji Nagar, Zishaan Zakrul Hasan alias Javed Khan, arrested from Uttar Pradesh, Deepak Hawa Singh Gogaliya alias John Walmiki.

Sinister plot

The plan was masterminded by Lawrence Bishnoi, his brother Amol, Goldy Brar and a Pakistani, Dogar. The accused formed a WhatsApp group to coordinate the attack, with Dogar supplying weapons from Pakistan.

Crime branch recovers a second weapon used in the incident. File photo/PTI

Around 60-70 people were involved in the plot, carrying out surveillance of Salman Khan’s locations, including his home and film sets.
The information was received by PI Nitin Thackeray on November 26, 2023. The authorities acted on the information and made the first arrest of Kashyap on April 28 this year.

Purchase of weapons

During the investigation, the authorities discovered a WhatsApp video in which the accused, Kashyap, was communicating with a wanted individual in Pakistan named Dogar. In the video, Dogar was showing high-tech weapons that were meant to be transported to India to kill Salman Khan.

Salman Khan. Photo/Instagram

“Dogar said that we can buy these high-tech weapons but the amount has to be transferred to the account of our boss Goldy Brar in Canada. Once this is done, the weapons can be transported from Pakistan,” the police noted in the charge sheet.

The chargesheet also states that once the weapons were transported to India, various shooters were posted in Pune, Raigad, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Gujarat on the orders of Goldy Brar.

“The shooters were waiting for orders from Brar and Anmol Bishnoi to kill Salman Khan. For the shootings, they designated persons below the age of 18 years. In addition, the operatives designated a person named John to provide a vehicle to the shooters to carry out the assassination,” the charge sheet reads.

The escape

After killing Salman Khan, the killers were instructed to reach Kanyakumari, from where they would be taken to Sri Lanka by boat. From Sri Lanka, they planned to flee to different countries to escape the law enforcement agencies.

The accused, Kashyap, had rented a room in Panvel and stayed in Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai to conduct reconnaissance of different locations associated with Salman Khan and other members of the gang.

The police also found that the accused, Kashyap, was in touch with the shooter who was tasked with killing Salman Khan and had Lawrence Bishnoi’s picture on his WhatsApp status. In one of the conversations with Kashyap, the shooter can be heard saying, “Let Salman Khan walk around in the armoured cars; our shooters will kill him,” the chargesheet reveals.

Besides Navi Mumbai Police, Mumbai CB is also investigating the firing case outside Salman’s residence and the CB filed a chargesheet this month.

“The evidence presented is based on fictitious WhatsApp conversations. The case is weak and there is no evidence against my clients, accused number 1 and 2,” said advocate Ankit Bangera representing accused Kashyap and Khan.