Firing at Salman Khan’s house: Cops recover both pistols from Tapi River

The crime branch has succeeded in recovering both the pistols carried by the shooters from Tapi River

MUMBAI: The crime branch has succeeded in recovering both the pistols carried by the shooters from Tapi River, who allegedly used one of the weapons to fire at the house of Bollywood actor Salman Khan. Police officials said they have also recovered four magazines with 17 live rounds from the river near Surat.

Surat, Apr 23 (ANI): Mumbai Crime Branch recovers a second gun used in the firing incident outside the Bollywood actor Salman Khan's residence on April 14 from Tapi River in Surat on Tuesday. 3 magazines were also recovered along with the gun. (ANI Photo) (ANI)

The police are, however, yet to recover a mobile phone used in the commission of the crime, as the accused had allegedly destroyed it before dropping it in the river water. The crime branch started searching for the weapons and the mobile handset after interrogation of the two alleged shooters revealed that they had dropped the articles in the Tapi River near Surat.

“A team headed by police inspector Daya Nayak with the help of two divers, who were equipped with oxygen cylinders, and three technical team members who were guiding the divers, successfully recovered the disposed of articles. They also had high-tech equipment used to search metallic objects underwater that helped us find the bullets and the pistols. Three fisherman boats of locals were used in the operation,” said a police officer.

The spots were shown by accused Vicky Kumar Gupta, 25, one of the shooters riding the bike during the firing. The other arrested accused is identified as Sagar Pal.

“We have recovered the pistol used for firing 5/6 rounds at the actor’s house in Galaxy Apartment in Bandra, and another pistol loaded with five rounds which was in the possession of Gupta during the firing but was not used in the firing. Only Sagar Pal, 24, fired five rounds from his weapons. The weapons will be sent to a forensic laboratory to match it with the rounds recovered from the actor’s house,” said the police officer.

The police said finding the weapons was a big achievement that would help strengthen their case, as the accused had tried to destroy the weapon to weaken the case. “As the water flow was slow due to summer the weapons thrown by the accused went to the base of the river and the divers succeeded in finding them,” said a police officer.

The police said they are now collecting documents and have sought legal help to see if they can invoke stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.

“After making gangster Lawrence Bishnoi an accused we are also in the process of taking his custody,” said the police officer. As regards, the gangster’s brother, Anmol Bishnoi - the main accused in the case, the process of issuing a Look Out Circular (LoC) is also in the process,” the officer added.