Mumbai: Two youths allegedly responsible for firing at actor Salman Khan’s residence were nabbed outside a temple 95km from Bhuj on Tuesday.

Suspected to have been sent by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to intimidate the actor, the duo — Vicky alias Vikas Gupta (24) and Sagar Pal (21) — allegedly fired 4 rounds at the house. They were paid Rs 1 lakh and Rs 3 lakh more was promised later, police said.

The suspects, from Bihar’s West Champaran, were apprehended near the Mata no Madh shrine around 1.30 am as they tried to blend in with devotees gathered for Navratri celebrations.

Sagar is the one who allegedly fired the weapon. Police said the duo travelled to Surat by train and disposed of their guns before going to Kutch by bus. Cops believe they reached Kutch Monday.

The duo, booked for murder bid and criminal conspiracy, and under Arms Act, has been remanded in police custody till April 25. Bishnoi and his brother Anmol have also been shown as accused.

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Mumbai: Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal from Bihar, who allegedly fired at actor Salman Khan’s Bandra home, were arrested 95 km from Bhuj in Gujarat on Tuesday. A Mumbai crime branch team led by inspector Daya Nayak produced them before the 37th metropolitan magistrate.

The two are said to have told police that jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother Anmol had hired them. They said he wanted the actor to be “punished for hunting a blackbuck” in Bawad in Mathania near Jodhpur in 1998. They allegedly told police they were asked to intimidate the actor, for which they received around Rs 1 lakh; Rs 3 lakh more was promised after the job.

Police are likely to move court to seek Lawrence’s police custody from Tihar jail and open a look out circular (LOC) against Anmol who is based in Canada and who is a key accused in recruiting the two youths besides claiming responsibility for the firing and indirectly issuing threats to Salman through social media.

Police said Anmol reportedly told the duo if they succeeded in firing two full magazines of bullets into Khan’s home, they would not only be famous, but would also be suitably rewarded.

Lakhmi Gautam, joint commissioner of police (crime) said, “While Vicky is Class 10 pass, Sagar is Class 8 pass and we are checking their antecedents to see if there are any previous cases against them. They carried out the firing at the behest of Bishnoi for monetary consideration and prima facie investigation suggests that they did three to four recces and were spotted near Taj Land’s End at Bandra.” Gautam said they are exploring whether Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) can be invoked.

“Anmol who was communicating with the two accused, had asked them to fire at least two full magazines of bullets (one magazine contains five bullets) at Khan’s home and they were told just to frighten him and not to harm anyone. They roamed around the whole night at Bandstand until 4.51am when they moved towards Salman’s Galaxy Apartment and fired four rounds from a slowly moving bike. While four bullets were fired smoothly, the fifth got stuck and accidentally fell live. They fled the scene of crime,” said a police source.

The accused told the police they have been camping in Mumbai since Feb 28 and had surveyed Khan’s Panvel farmhouse as well as Galaxy Apartments residence. In the interim, the accused rented a room in Panvel, went back to their village during Holi and returned on April 1. The first leads came from the CCTV footage of the bike used by the duo, which led police to its seller in Panvel. The bike seller not only gave their phone numbers, but also the address of their rented room in Panvel. The landlord gave them copies of Aadhaar cards and phone numbers the duo had submitted. Technical analysis of the phones helped police trace them till Bhuj.

“We are trying to identify the person who had delivered the weapon and cash to the duo on behalf of Anmol. Sagar appears to have come in contact with a Bishnoi gang member while he was in Haryana a few months ago,” said an officer.

Meanwhile, Mumbai police said Vishal aka Kalu’s involvement that had cropped up in relation to the case in Delhi police’s investigation has not been established in their probe.

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Mumbai/Rajkot: The arrest of two suspects from Gujarat on Tuesday for allegedly firing at actor Salman Khan’s Bandra residence on Sunday saw different agencies trying to take credit for “cracking the case”. A senior IPS officer called it “healthy competition”.

Immediately after the city crime branch announced a press conference on the arrests on Tuesday, Bandra police, which had initially registered an offence of attempt to murder against the accused, were quick to call it a “joint operation”. Bandra police said the crime branch had succeeded in arresting the duo only after they had provided basic information of the bike used by the accused, CCTV footage and call detail records.

Crime branch officials rubbished this, saying after the home department transferred the case to them, local police held back information. “Despite a request to hand over all papers and the DVR (digital video recorder), they did not provide us with any details, which we have brought to the notice of our seniors. The crime intelligence unit assisted us in gathering technical intelligence regarding the accused,” said a crime branch source.

A Mumbai police official said they had formed a special team from Bandra police station comprising sub-inspector Sushant Bavachakar and constables Shivraj Mashal and Nitin Sapkale “who worked hard and had almost reached Bhuj but we were little late. The crime branch had already picked up the accused with local police’s help”. The crime branch team comprised inspector Daya Nayak and Bharat Ghone headed by DCP Datta Nalawade and Vishal Thakur and joint commissioner of police Lakhmi Gautam.

Meanwhile, Bhuj police issued a press note stating, “Based on technical work and activation of private network information received that the accused had taken shelter in an ashram near Matanamadh Mandir premises, we arrested them and handed over them to Mumbai crime branch.”

Mahendra Bagaria, deputy inspector general of police (Kutch West), said the arrests were made around 1.30am on Tuesday. “We got to know their location via human intelligence but were careful, apprehending they might possess weapons and fire at us. We alerted all check posts before starting the operation and went there in a private car in civil dress,” he said. “We believe they came here for the first time, but are probing their possible links in Kutch.”

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Did the shooters at Galaxy Apartment deliberately leave enough clues behind, making it an easy job for the cops? The Mumbai Crime Branch discovered that the arrested accused purposely left behind various clues and pieces of evidence that aided the police in tracing them.

Right from the beginning of the shootout, The shooters, Vickey Kumar Gupta, 25; and Sagar Kumar Pal, 23, members of the Bishnoi gang who are now in custody, left behind hints, making it a cakewalk for the cops to arrest them. On Sunday morning, instead of disposing of the bike used in the firing carefully, they abandoned it hardly one kilometre away from Salman’s residence at the gate of Mount Mary Church in Bandra.

Officials said that the bike was found with the original number plate, which played a crucial role in the investigations. “They could have easily destroyed the number plate or the bike, but it was abandoned so close to the crime scene,” an officer from Bandra police station said.

Also, the accused bought the bike used in the firing with their original documents. If that was not enough for the cops to trace them, they also made a rental agreement with their landlord using their original documents and genuine phone numbers. Police found that there was no effort made to hide the address of the temporary rented accommodation from the bike owner. 

Eventually, with his questioning, the cops traced the landlord of their house. They made a house rental agreement in Panvel using their original Aadhar card and Pan card. The investigation also revealed that the accused were in contact with a member of the Bishnoi gang who instructed them to leave behind evidence for the police to find and on their next steps.

The duo belonged to Champaran district in Bihar and have been working for the gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his gang for the past two years. Crime Branch officials believe that the Bishnoi gang intended to only warn Salman Khan and not harm him. The gang also wanted Gupta and Pal to be arrested so that he could confirm and take responsibility for the firing to instil fear in the public on behalf of their gang.

Sources revealed that after the firing, the accused informed the Bishnoi gang member that they had completed their task and were fleeing. They were instructed to leave the bike outside Mount Mary church in Bandra and leave the spot. The accused then took an auto to Bandra railway station, boarded a slow local train for Santacruz station. The two then took another auto to Vakola signal on the Western Express Highway and changed to yet another auto to reach the Mira Road area. Subsequently, they travelled to Surat, Gujarat by rented car and took public transport.

The Unit 9 crime branch officer, Daya Nayak, received a tip-off about the accused hiding in a Mataji temple (Madh) in the Kutch Bhuj area in Gujarat. The officers checked the route of the bus and reached Kutch, and before reaching, they informed the local Crime Branch of Kutch Bhuj to identify them. The Mumbai Crime Branch team also shared the photos of the suspected accused with the Gujarat Crime Branch, and they checked the Mataji temple area and found both accused and took them into custody.

In the investigation, police also found that this was the second visit of the shooters to Mumbai. Earlier, they had arrived in Mumbai in February and had returned to their hometown for Holi celebration on March 24, and they returned again to Mumbai on April 1. The cops also found that the gun was delivered to them after April 1. Cops assumed that the firing plan was planned before February 28 by the Bishnoi gang. Cops also found that the pistol which was used for firing was of high-range quality. Both accused also took basic training in Haryana. Interestingly, cops didn’t find any criminal records of both accused. Cops also recovered 1 phone from them. Cops suspected they threw the gun into some river.