Mumbai: The Mumbai police has issued a lookout circular (LOC) against Anmol Bishnoi in connection with the firing outside actor Salman Khan's residence on April 14, confirmed a Crime Branch officer. Sources said that the police are considering invoking the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused. Meanwhile, Sonu Kumar Bishnoi and Anuj Kumar Thapan, who were recently arrested from Punjab and are accused of supplying weapons to the shooters, have been remanded to the Crime Branch's custody until April 30.
After the incident, Anmol allegedly claimed its responsibility via a Facebook post, whose IP address was reportedly traced to Portugal. The Crime Branch filed a case against six people, with four of them being arrested so far. Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and Anmol have been declared wanted accused.
According to the police, Kumar and Thapan met the alleged shooters, Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta, in Panvel to handover the weapons on March 15. The Crime Branch sought Kumar and Thapan's custody to investigate the source of the weapons and trace the chain of conspiracy. Given that the duo travelled from Punjab, the police suspect that the shooting may have been planned there, necessitating further investigation in the northern state.
The cops are also probing whether Kumar and Thapan have associates in Mumbai or elsewhere in Maharashtra. Whether they planned to target just Khan or other prominent people were also on their list will be determined.
Representing the duo, Advocate Ajay Dubey denied allegations of providing weapons to Pal and Gupta, asserting that his clients had no contact with them. He argued that the accused are poor and had no involvement in the case. According to sources, Thapan is a history-sheeter involved in three cases, including those of attempted murder and extortion.
