Two arrested for conspiring to kill Salman Khan move HC for bail

The police claimed that one Ajay Kashyap, who was an alleged dealer of illegal arms, was stationed in Kalamboli near Panvel since August 2023 to undertake the entire exercise on behalf of Lawrence Bishnoi gang

MUMBAI: Two of the 17 people who were arrested by the Navi Mumbai police for allegedly conspiring to kill actor Salman Khan approached the Bombay high court on Monday for seeking bail. The plea filed by Vaspi Mehmud Khan aka Vasim Chikna and Gaurav Bhatia aka Sandeep Bishnoi is likely to be heard on July 22.

Mumbai, May 07 (ANI): Mumbai Police arrest one more accused from Rajasthan in the actor Salman Khan house firing case, in Mumbai on Tuesday. (ANI Photo) (Deepak Salvi)

On April 24, the Panvel city police registered an FIR against 17 people, including Khan and Bhatia, claiming that they were members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and had conducted a detailed recce of the actor’s farmhouse near Panvel, his routes to and from the farmhouse, his Bandra residence as well as Film City, where Salman Khan goes for film shoots.

The police claimed that one Ajay Kashyap, who was an alleged dealer of illegal arms, was stationed in Kalamboli near Panvel since August 2023 to undertake the entire exercise on behalf of Lawrence Bishnoi gang and that three of the accused were in touch with a Pakistani national and they had exchanged information about modern weapons.

After receipt of the information, the police registered the FIR under sections 115 (abetment of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life- if the offence not committed), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 506(II) (criminal intimidation with a threat to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.

Khan, who was arrested on April 27 and Bhatia, apprehended three days later, had approached the high court after their bail pleas were rejected by the sessions court at Panvel.

In their plea filed through advocate Tanveer Aziz Patel and Asit Chaware, the duo had claimed that they had been falsely implicated in the case. Their bail plea stated that they had never been to Panvel or anywhere near the town, and the only allegation was that they were part of the WhatsApp group which said Ajay Kashyap, who allegedly hatched the conspiracy to kill Salman Khan, was also a part.

The plea added that the police have completed the investigation and filed a charge sheet, but there is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations levelled against them. It added that the Panvel City police have created an imaginary story, perhaps to gain undue publicity and limelight.