Mumbai: Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s security was beefed up on Monday and a van was deployed outside his residence a day after his father screenwriter Salim Khan found a threat note addressed to the father-son duo.
The authorities have taken the threat seriously as the note was found on the bench where Salim Khan would sit usually after his morning walk at Bandstand Promenade. A police officer attached to the Bandra police station said that they have scrutinised footage from the cameras installed along the promenade, but haven’t found anything so far.
They have also recorded the statements of the actor and his father and two of Salim Khan’s bodyguards, who first noticed the chit. The Bandra police also surveyed the area around the actor’s residence to see if more policemen were required to be deployed.
“We have started an investigation into the threat note and are trying to find the culprit,” said Manjunath Shinge, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 9. “The Bandra police station has formed several teams to probe the matter. Extra force has been deployed outside the actor’s residence,” Shinge added.
Unit 9 of the crime branch is also conducting a parallel investigation. “We have formed two teams which are probing all possible angles and trying to ascertain if there was some serious threat to the actor and his family,” said a police officer attached to the Crime Branch unit.
A case was registered against an unknown person for allegedly issuing a threat to actor Salman Khan and his father Salim on Sunday morning.
According to the Bandra police, Salim Khan was on his daily morning walk on the Bandstand promenade along with his security. At 7.40 am, he sat on a bench for a break when his security personnel found a chit with the words, “Moosewala jaisa kar doonga (You will suffer the same fate as Moosewala).”
Punjab singer-politician Sidhu Moosewala was shot dead in Mansa village last week by alleged members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Earlier in 2018, Bishnoi had threatened Salman Khan when the blackbuck poaching case was in court. Lawrence, who belongs to the Bishnoi community, considers the blackbuck to be a sacred animal, and Salman’s involvement in poaching had hurt the community’s sentiments.
In 2020, a sharpshooter named Rahul with several aliases was arrested in Uttarakhand in connection to a murder case. During the investigation, the police uncovered that Rahul had gone to Mumbai to conduct a recce of Salman’s house, under the instructions of Bishnoi.