Mumbai: Two motorcycle-borne persons opened fire on April 14, 2024 at around 5.00 a.m. at the actor Salman Khan's sea-facing home in Galaxy Apartments, Bandra (W). The actor was present in the house, but was not hurt. Surprisingly not even a constable was present when the firing took place despite the fact that the actor is a `Y' category protectee.
The FPJ has accessed the chargesheet filed by the police. Following is a time-line of the events which preceded the murder attempt. The names are all of suspects who were allegedly a part of the conspirary hatched by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to eliminate the actor:
Timeline of the Salman Khan firing case.
* Vicky Gupta(24) and Sagar Pal(35) are both from the same village in West Champaran district of Bihar.
* Sagar Pal, was working at a steel factory in Jalandhar, Punjab, from 2020.
* Vicky Gupta worked at a paper plant in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, from 2022.
* During Diwali vacation 2022, Gupta met Sagar Pal, and they became good friends.
* In July 2023, Gupta left his job and went to Jalandhar to meet Pal, requesting him to find a job.
* Sagar Pal was the first person with whom the Lawrence Bishnoi Gang contacted when he was working in Jalandhar..
* In August 2023, Gupta disclosed to Pal that he is a member of the Bishnoi Gang and was in direct contact with Anmol Bishnoi, the don's brother.
* Same evening, Sagar Pal, Vicky Gupta, and Anmol Bishnoi communicated via the Signal app. Bishnoi asked them to find a rental room in Panvel. After that, Pal convinced him to join the gang to earn a good amount of money, which he agreed to.
* In October 2023, on the instruction of Bishnoi, they traveled to Ambala to meet a Bishnoi Gang member, who gave them
Rs 30,000 to rent a room in Mumbai. On the same day, they traveled from Ambala to Panvel.
*T he day after arriving in Panvel, they checked into a hotel and then went to search for a rental room.
* Because they were bachelors, they were unable to get a room. The next day, they went to Mumbai Central and spent the day exploring the city, visiting iconic places such as the Taj Hotel, the Gateway of India, and Juhu Beach. That night, they returned to Jalandhar. Before leaving Mumbai, they notified Anmol Bishnoi via the Signal app that they were heading back due to the failure to secure a room.
* In the first week of November, Anmol asked them once more to travel to Mumbai and search for a room. After two days, Gupta and Pal arrived in Panvel and stayed at six different hotels in their attempt to find a room. Despite their efforts, they were unable to secure a room and returned to Jalandhar. They informed Anmol Bishnoi of their unsuccessful search.
* In the third week of November, Gupta and Pal traveled to Bihar to celebrate Chhath Puja. After the festival, Anmol Bishnoi called Vicky and inquired about their plans to return to Mumbai. Vicky informed him that they did not have enough money.
During this period, the Kisaan Andolan was underway, causing internet service outages. Despite this, they managed to contact Anmol using another ID, and he instructed them to collect the money from his village in Abohar.
* In the last week of November, Gupta sent Pal to Abohar to collect the money. An unknown person handed Pal Rs 35,000 in cash near the Abohar station.
* From Chhath Puja until the last week of February, Vicky Gupta stayed in Bihar, while Sagar Pal was in Bihar as well as in Jalandhar.
* In the last week of February, Anmol called Sagar and asked them to return to Mumbai for the third time to search for a room.
* On February 27, Vicky took a train from Champaran, Bihar, and Pal took a train from Jalandhar, Punjab. They arrived in Mumbai on February 28 and checked into a hotel.
* On February 29, they conducted a recce of Salman’s Galaxy apartment in Bandra.
* On March 1, Bishnoi instructed them to find a house in Panvel. With the help of a local auto rickshaw, they found a single room with a kitchen in Harigram Village, Panvel and moved on the same evening.
* From March 1 to 10, both accused were in constant contact with Anmol Bishnoi, gathering money to purchase various equipment.
* On March 15, Sonu Kumar and Anuj Thapan traveled from Abohar, Punjab, to Panvel, where they delivered two pistols, two extra magazines, 40 live rounds, and a thousand-rupee note.
* On March 18, Gupta and Sagar traveled to their village to celebrate Holi, also carrying two pistols and live bullets.
* Till March 28, while at their native place, they had met some close friends, informed them about their plan to kill Salman Khan, displayed their pistols, and attempted to persuade them to join their gang.
* On March 30, they arrived in Mumbai and informed Bishnoi, who instructed them to buy a second-hand bike. On the same day, Gupta asked one of his friends, who works as a helper in Pune, to visit Panvel.
* On April 1, Vicky's friend arrived in Panvel, and on April 2, all three of them went to purchase a second-hand two-wheeler. While making the payment, Vicky provided a false reason for the money not being transferred and took the shop owner's bank details. A total of Rs 25,000 was deposited into the account from a CDM machine located in Chandigarh. Vicky then asked the shop owner to accept payment through his UPI and also used his UPI to purchase a helmet. Later that same day, his friend left for Pune.
* On the same day they purchased the bike, they conducted a recce of Salman Khan's farmhouse in Waze Village, Panvel, which is 10 km from their house.
* On April 5, around 6 a.m., the two accused carried out a recce of the Galaxy Apartment and reported their findings to Anmol Bishnoi.
* On April 8, Gupta and Pal met with Mohammad Rafiq Haji, another gang member of Bishnoi. They discussed riding bikes to Galaxy to carry out the firing, but Haji instructed them to postpone the plan until after Ramzan.
* On April 11, again both of them met Haji and made a call to Bishnoi and who also asked him to ride a bike, said, “Tumko bas bike chalana hai firing ye dono karenge”.
* On April 13, Anmol Bishnoi arranged a conference call with Lawrence Bishnoi and Vicky to motivate them before the attack.
* On April 14, Gupta and Pal departed from Panvel around 3:30 a.m. and arrived at Galaxy around 5:00 a.m. They conducted a reconnaissance of the area and found no one outside the gate. As Gupta prepared to start his bike before the attack, Pal advised him, "If anyone comes in the way, shoot that person as well."
* The first round of bullets was fired at Salman’s balcony at 5:45:05 a.m. Within 3 seconds, a total of 5 rounds were discharged at the balcony before they fled the scene.
* Once the duo fled the scene, they left their bike a kilometer away from the Galaxy Apartment near the Mount Mary Church from where they took an auto ride towards Bandra suburban railway station. Gupta and Pal got down at Bandra station and boarded a local train to Santacruz, where they dropped down and booked a taxi towards Vapi in Gujarat.
Before moving ahead, the duo disposed of a mobile phone, two pistols, two extra magazines and live bullets into the Tapi river and boarded a bus towards Ahmedabad. Once the duo reached Bhuj city of Kutch via Gandhidham, a member of the Bishnoi gang allegedly gave them a ride till the remote village of Mata No Madh, where they were arrested by the Local Crime Branch of West Kutch police around midnight. The inter-state coordination between the police forces helped nab both the accused within two days.
