Firing outside Salman Khan's residence: Two arrested from Gujarat

Mumbai/Bhuj: Two men who allegedly opened fire outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan's residence in Mumbai have been arrested from Gujarat on Tuesday.

The two accused, identified as Vicky Gupta (24) and Sagar Pal (21), were on the run after firing outside Khan's house on Sunday. They were nabbed late Monday night from a temple premises at Mata No Madh village in Gujarat's Kutch district, Deputy Inspector General of Kutch-West, Mahendra Bagadiya, said.

Both the accused are natives of West Champaran in Bihar, he said, adding the two have admitted to the crime. After getting a message from the Mumbai police that the duo might be present in Kutch district, local police activated their sources to trace them, said a release by Kutch-West police.

"Based on the technical surveillance and information received from informers, joint teams of the Kutch-West and Mumbai police nabbed the duo from a temple premises at Mata No Madh late Monday night," Bagadiya said.

A preliminary probe suggested that both Sagar and Vicky were hired by the gang of incarcerated gangster Lawrence Bishnoi to open fire at Khan's house, he said. While Sagar fired at Khan's house, Vicky was in touch with the gang members, Bagadiya said.

After being nabbed, the accused were first brought to Dayapar police station in Kutch and then handed over to the Mumbai police as the complaint is registered there, he said. They were booked under Indian Penal Code section 307 (attempt to murder) and relevant provisions of the Arms Act, the police said.

At around 5 am on Sunday, two motorcycle-borne persons fired four rounds outside 58-year-old Khan's house at the Galaxy Apartment in Bandra area of Mumbai and fled the spot. They had rented a house for a month in Navi Mumbai's Panvel, where the actor has a farmhouse, an official said on Monday.

The police on Monday questioned three persons from Navi Mumbai, including the house owner, the previous owner of the two-wheeler used in the crime, the agent who facilitated the sale, and several others as part of the probe into the firing incident, the official said. The motorbike was abandoned near Mount Mary Church in Mumbai, a little over a kilometre from the actor's house, the police said.

A Facebook post claiming responsibility for the firing surfaced at around 11 am on Sunday. The Internet Protocol (IP) address of the FB post was traced to Portugal and the police were verifying it, a senior official said on Monday.

Prima facie, the shooters had conducted a recce around the Galaxy Apartment in Bandra a few days ago, he said. Police suspect a virtual private network (VPN) was used for uploading the Facebook post, allegedly by Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi on Sunday, he said.

A VPN establishes a digital connection between a computer and a remote server owned by a VPN provider, creating a point-to-point tunnel that encrypts personal data, masks IP addresses, and allows the user to sidestep website blocks and firewalls on the Internet.

(With PTI Inputs)