NEW DELHI – Bollywood Star Salman Khan was rescued by the IndianPolice as armedmen attacked Film City where he was shooting for his upcoming film Race 3.
The actor had earlier received death threats from a gangster from theBishnoi community that worships black bucks. According to reports, Salman’sappearance in Jodhpur last Thursday in the black buck case sparked thesethreats by gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
The blackbuck case, in which Salman is charged with poaching the endangeredanimal, has been ongoing in Jodhpur courts for the past 10 years.
The police arrived at the Race 3 set in Film City and advised Salman andproducer Ramesh Taurani to stop the shoot immediately and send Salman home.Salman was escorted home in a car by six armed officials and was asked tomaintain a low profile for a few days. No arrest has been made in the case.
Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi of Rajasthan on Thursday issued a death threat toSalman Khan. “Salman Khan will be killed here, in Jodhpur… Then he willcome to know about our real identity. If police wants me to do a majorcrime, I shall kill Salman Khan and that too in Jodhpur,” he said whilespeaking to the media on January 5.
Bishoi is a notorious gangster and has been charged in over 20 cases ofattempt to murder, carjacking, extortion and snatching under the Arms Actin the Punjab-Haryana belt.
A senior police officer was quoted as saying, “We are taking Bishnoi’sthreat seriously but we have assured Salman that he will receive maximumpolice protection. We are also investigating the motive behind Bishnoi’sthreat to Salman.”
While Salman felt he would be safer in Mumbai, the Mumbai police found outthat three men in the city had threatened to kill the actor as well, whilea group of vandals was being mobilised to create mischief near his shootinglocation, according to the report. The security surrounding the actor hasbeen increased in view of these threats.
Salman’s father, Salim Khan also confirmed this and said, “While I don’tknow the exact details about when he left the sets, I do know that therewere some threats. But Salman has a good team of security personnel. Thisis not the first time that he is getting such threats. In this industry,people keep getting threats.”
He further added, “The only action we are taking is to make sure thatSalman is safe.”
This is not the first time an actor has received death threats. DeepikaPadukone also received death threats for essaying the role of RaniPadmavati in her upcoming film, Padmaavat (formerly known as Padmavati).Hindu extremist organisations had offered bounties on the actresses head.Following that, the state had increased the security surrounding her andher family as well.