Bollywood mega-star Salman Khan has got a fresh extortion-cum-death threat demanding Rs five crore, suspected to be made by a gangster linked with the dreaded Lawrence Bishnoi gang, officials here said on Friday.
The extortion threat was received by the Mumbai Traffic Police, purportedly offering to resolve the ongoing face-off between the actor and the jailed Bishnoi in return for coughing out a payment of Rs five crore.
However, it also warned that if the extortion amount was not given, then Khan could meet a fate worse than businessman Baba Ziauddin Siddique, a ruling ally of Nationalist Congress Party, who was brutally shot dead in Bandra East on October 12.
The ominous message on Whats App said: “If Salman Khan wants to stay alive and wants to end the enmity with Bishnoi, then he must pay up Rs five crore. Do not take this lightly, otherwise, Salman Khan’s condition will be worse than Baba Siddique.”
Taking it seriously, the Mumbai Police have started a probe into the antecedents of the sender, their intention behind the extortion-death threats, etc, considering that last month a young couple had threatened the actor’s father Salim Khan “merely for fun”, but sparked huge alarm.
For several years, Khan and his dad have been at the receiving end of the Bishnoi gang’s threats, ultimatums, extortion demands, even a bout of a warning firing at their home in Galaxy Apartments in Bandra West, and gunning down of his close pal Siddique last week.
Interestingly, after the April firing at the Khan home, the Bishnoi gang had termed it as the “final warning”, and this time the extortion threat has called upon the actor not to take it “lightly” or face consequences akin to Siddique.
After the series of threats, the Mumbai Police have beefed up security at the Khan household, his shoots at the Goregaon Film City and other studios, his office, the family’s country house, Arpita Farms in Panvel (Raigad), and the routes the actor takes to and from work, higher scrutiny and other restrictions on his visitors.
A case has been registered at Worli police station under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for threat and extortion.