Firing at Salman Khan’s house was attempt to kill him: Actor’s bodyguard tells court
The personal bodyguard of Bollywood actor Salman Khan has told a special court here that the April 2024 shooting incident at the superstar’s residence in Mumbai was an attempt to kill him. The trial in the case began last month with the deposition of the bodyguard as the first witness.
On April 14, 2024, two motorcycle-borne men opened fire outside Khan’s Bandra residence, Galaxy Apartments.
Recounting the incident, the bodyguard, also the complainant in the case, last month testified that he reported for his regular night shift at 7 pm on April 13, 2024.
He told the court that the actor’s security at that time had been heightened due to threats from gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
As per his deposition, at around 4 am on April 14, the security team heard sounds resembling firecrackers.
“I looked at the CCTV screen. I saw that there were two persons on a bike, wearing helmets and firing towards the building,” the witness stated.
He further told the court the assailants fired four to five times. “Therefore, I and other guards present there, immediately went outside from the main gate,” the witness said.
He added that both the motorcyclists fled to the right side towards “I Love Bandra” point and from there they went towards Mehboob Studios Road.
The prosecution, represented by special public prosecutor Mahesh Mule, presented CCTV footage in the court, which showed a motorcycle arriving in front of the gate. The witness identified the details from the video. The bodyguard clarified that at the time of the attack, Khan was in his bedroom on the first floor.
He asserted that “the firing was an attempt to kill the actor”.
During his cross-examination, the witness, while responding to a question of defence advocate Viral Babar, confirmed that he was in the security cabin when he heard the noise.
He, however, had no “personal knowledge” of the specific threats issued to the actor, the bodyguard said, while responding to another query.
Another witness, a police guard, testified before the court on Saturday. He said he was sitting in the lobby and did not see the incident and only saw the bullet shells near the spot.
Bike-borne individuals-Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, had carried out the firing incident outside Salman’s Galaxy Apartment.
As per police, Mohammed Rafiq Sardar Chaudhari had recced Galaxy Apartments two days before the firing, had shot a video of the area and sent it to Anmol Bishnoi, a wanted accused in the case.
Gupta and Pal, along with other accused Sonukumar Bishnoi, Mohd Rafiq Choudhary and Harpal Singh, are currently in judicial custody. One accused, Anujkumar Thapan, committed suicide during police custody.
Jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his brother Anmol Bishnoi were shown as wanted accused in the case.
