Noida tattoo artist arrested for sending threat messages to Zeeshan Siddique

Gurfan Khan claimed to have overheard members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang discussing their plan to target Siddique and attack actor Salman Khan using a drone

MUMBAI: The crime branch on Tuesday arrested Gurfan Maqbool Khan, a 20-year-old tattoo-maker from Noida, for allegedly sending eight WhatsApp messages to MLA Zeeshan Siddique, claiming people connected with the Lawerence Bishnoi gang wanted to harm him. Khan claimed to have overheard gang members discussing their plan to target Siddique and attack actor Salman Khan using a drone, said police. He has been remanded in police custody for six days.

Zeeshan Siddique with Salman Khan

Siddique’s father and NCP leader Bab Siddique was killed on October 12 and police suspect the Lawrence Bishnoi gang was behind the murder.

According to the police, Khan made the first call on October 25 to Zeeshan Siddique’s number used by his office staff to keep in touch with the electorate. He merely said “hello hello” and disconnected the call, saying he could hear anything. Sometime later, he called on the number again and told Siddique’s office staff that he wanted to pass on some important information over WhatsApp. After being told that the same number was on WhatsApp, he sent eight messages to the number between 7.08pm and 7:28pm, claiming he had overheard members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang planning to attack Siddique and actor Salman Khan.

In one message, he said, “Maine socha police me inform karu but pata nahi wo log kya karenge kya nahi...Kal raat me kareeb 2 baje kuch log related to Bishnoi... maine suna ki unke support me Bandra ke hi kuch neta hai jinke saath milkar wo Jishan Bhai ko nuksan pahochana chahte hai (I thought I should inform the police, but I’m not sure if they will do anything. Last night, around 2am, I overheard some people related to Bishnoi gang that they wanted to harm Zeeshan Bhai and some politicians from Bandra were helping them in this).”

In another message, he claimed the same people were planning to use drones to do something “bada” (big) at Salman Khan’s residence.

In his later messages, Gurfan Khan claimed that the gang members lived near his house and he saw them carrying pistols and other arms. He also revealed his identity himself in one of the messages and said that he had found the number in one of Zeeshan’s Facebook posts.

A staff member of the Vandre East MLA’s office subsequently lodged a complaint with the Nirmal Nagar police, based on which Gurfan Khan was booked under sections 308 (I), 308 (ii), 308 (5) and 351 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita.

A team of the crime branch (unit 8) nabbed Khan from his residence in Noida on Monday and brought him to Mumbai on Tuesday, following which he was handed over to the Nirmal Nagar police station. He was produced in the court and remanded to police custody for six days, said a police officer.

“The accused thought that he would get some monetary prize if he provided the false information to the MLA, whose father was killed on October 12,” said a police officer.