MUMBAI: The investigation into the firing at Salman Khan’s residence has revealed that the shooters had rented a room in Panvel for a month to recce the actor’s farm house as well as his Bandra home where they ultimately fired the shots.
A crime branch officer said they bought a second-hand bike from a Panvel resident for ₹20,000 through a person in Panvel, who was not the original owner. As the bike was still registered in the name of the first owner, the crime branch traced the original owner and the broker who helped the shooters rent a home and questioned them on Monday.
According to a crime branch officer, after firing five or six rounds at Khan’s residence, the shooters fled on the two-wheeler and abandoned the bike at Mount Mary Road. From there, they took an auto to Bandra station and boarded a local train and got down at Santacruz. They exited the station in Santacruz East and walked towards Kalina. Their movement thereafter has not been caught on CCTV but crime branch officers suspect that the accused could have gone to the airport to take a flight. However, CCTV footage from the airport and passenger data did not give any clue about the shooters, the officer added. Later, a police team found their last location in Mira Road, but again there was no trace of the two in surveillance cameras.
Hours after the shooting on Sunday, incarcerated gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother Anmol Bishnoi claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media post, saying, “Salman Khan, do not take us lightly. This is the first and last warning. After this, the firing will happen at your home.” Police have seized the bike used by the assailants and are probing the role of all suspects including Bishnoi and the likely motive behind the shooting.
The police have found that the social media post of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother, Anmol Bishnoi, was posted from an IP (Internet Protocol) address based in Portugal. The police, however, feel that could be misleading as in most of such cases virtual private networks are used to create fake IP addresses for posting messages on social media.