Notorious Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi has demanded a huge sum of money from Bollywood star Salman Khan to end a long-standing feud.
According to an NDTV report, the Bishnoi gang has demanded five crore rupees from Salman Khan to end the feud.
According to Indian media reports, the Mumbai Traffic Police received a WhatsApp message allegedly from a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang threatening to kill the actor. The message says, “If Salman Khan wants to stay alive and end the long-standing rivalry, then pay Rs 5 crore, don’t take this threat lightly, otherwise the actor will end up worse than former Maharashtra Chief Minister Baba Siddiqui who was recently shot dead by the Bishnoi gang.”
The Mumbai police have launched an investigation into the matter, and security around Salman Khan’s residence has been beefed up.
This is not the first time Salman Khan has received death threats from the Bishnoi gang.
In 2022, the actor found a threatening letter on a bench near his residence, and in March 2023, he allegedly received an email from gang members.
In January 2024, two unidentified men attempted to enter Salman Khan’s Panvel farmhouse using fake identities, after which the actor’s security was further tightened.
According to Indian media, the feud dates back to 1998 during the filming of the blockbuster Bollywood movie ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ in a village in Rajasthan, when two rare blackbucks were hunted. Since then, Salman Khan has been facing constant threats from members of the Bishnoi community.
In 2018, a Jodhpur court sentenced Salman Khan to five years in jail in the Blackbuck case, but he was later granted bail. However, since that time, the Bishnoi community has harbored enmity toward the Dabangg star.
Indian media reports that blackbucks hold significant importance to the Bishnoi community. The Bishnoi people inhabit the Thar desert region of Rajasthan and revere trees, plants, and animals. They are primarily vegetarians and are known to sacrifice their lives to protect animals. In Bishnoi villages in Rajasthan, the blackbuck is considered sacred.
According to the Indian Wildlife Act, blackbuck hunting is illegal and carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison.
In the wake of the extra security measures he has been taking while filming episodes of Weekend Ka Vaar for Bigg Boss 18, superstar Salman Khan has imported a second bulletproof vehicle from Dubai to ensure his safety.
Salman has purchased a bulletproof Nissan Patrol SUV at ₹2 crore and brought it from Dubai to Mumbai, as reported by Bollywood Society. This SUV has been associated with high safety features and protection like bomb alerts, thick glasses resisting bullets, and dark tinted windows to hide the driver and passengers.
The Nissan Patrol SUV is not yet introduced in Indian markets, and hence this is Salman’s second bulletproof car imported from Dubai.
Who is Lawrance Bishnoi? How did he become so popular across Canada and India?
Lawrence Bishnoi hails from the Sirsa district of Haryana. He was a law student at DAV College in Chandigarh. Through student politics, he began to build a criminal network.
Bishnoi hailed from a family owning more than 100 acres of farm land in Duttaranwali village, Punjab. While the president of the student body in his college, he clashed with a rival group of students. It is said that during the same period, he was arrested for arson and attempted murder. As a result, he spent some time behind bars in Chandigarh jail.
A senior police officer once said, “Among his young followers, Bishnoi is highly revered as a man of principle. He portrays himself as a righteous bachelor, a celibate, often signing off with remarks like ‘Jai Shree Ram’.”
Bishnoi has been in and out of jail for over a decade, but the gang has spread out with connections to New Delhi and other neighboring states, and has been in turf wars with other gangs within Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Punjab, and associates in Canada and the United States.
He garnered national fame after the murder of a famous Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. It was reported that the killing was in retaliation against the murder of one of his gang members. Moosewala was infamous for his provocative, anti-India lyrics and was also a Khalistan movement supporter.
This has led to a big question: Did Lawrence Bishnoi get support from the Indian government? Is it true that Lawrence Bishnoi’s network was being utilised by the Indian Intelligence Agency RAW to catch anti-national elements in Canada?
There have also been occasions when Indian secret services used mafia elements to eliminate threats such as Dawood Ibrahim. For example, in 2005, India’s top intelligence officer, Ajit Doval, was reported to have set up an assassination attempt by Chota Rajan, a former aide of Dawood Ibrahim, on the latter. Even though the Mumbai police nabbed Rajan’s men, foiling the operation, it demonstrated sometimes how secret agencies join hands with figures from the dark.
It is not yet clear whether the Indian government was backing Lawrence Bishnoi. According to reports, RAW took advantage of his network and eliminated anti-India elements in Canada, an accusation that has been hurled back by Canada at India, but nothing concrete has surfaced so far. Today, Bishnoi sits in Sabarmati jail of Ahmedabad, but he is believed to be continuing his operations through a network of around 700 shooters worldwide. The supporter base is so strong that there are even rumors that Indian Home Minister Amit Shah is backing him, but nobody knows.
Bishnoi has said, “Hum desh ko tukde nahi bana denge” (We won’t let the country be divided). His followers termed him as a modern day Bhagat Singh and carry around the t-shirt along with his picture. Khalistani supporters, especially in Canada, UK and USA have turned into a nightmare for Bishnoi and his gang.
This information credit goes to: Chay @UddJaaPerindeyy.
