Salman Khan Galaxy Apartment Firing Case: Police tell Court, “Accused opened fire in an attempt to kill the actor;” demand custody of gunmen

Early Sunday morning news of two unidentified, motorcycle-borne men opening fire at Salman Khan’s Galaxy Apartments residence made the headlines. The incident – which took place on April 14 in Bandra’s Bandstand area, is under investigation with new updates making news every day. As per a recent report, the Mumbai Police’s crime branch told a local court that the accused fired at the actor’s residence in an “attempt to kill Salman Khan.”

The accused – Vicky Gupta (24) and Sagar Pal (21), are both residents of Bihar and have been on the run ever since they fired at the ‘Tiger 3’ actor’s home. The duo were apprehended late Monday from Mata No Madh village in Gujarat’s Kutch district. They were later brought to Mumbai. As per a report, Gupta was riding the motorcycle and Pal – who was riding behind, fired the shots.

Gunmen opened fire to kill Salman Khan

As per a recent ETimes report, the Mumbai Police has sought the custody of Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal for 14 days as they believe custodial interrogation is required to unearth the conspiracy and identify the mastermind behind the firing at Salman Khan’s Bandra residence. The crime branch, in its remand note submitted to the court, said the duo opened fire outside Khan’s residence intending to kill him. The note said, “The two accused opened fire outside Salman Khan’s house in an attempt to kill the actor. Custodial interrogation is required to identify the mastermind and to also ascertain the motive.”

The police said a preliminary probe has established that the duo “played an active role in the alleged offence”. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate L S Paden remanded the accused in police custody till April 25.

The Mumbai police added that during preliminary questioning, the two accused accepted that they had carried out the firing. The remand note further read, “Custody of the accused is required to probe if the accused had plans to attack anyone else other than Salman Khan.” It also stated that the police are still to recover the firearm used.

The remand note further said the police are also looking into the claims made by Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother taking responsibility for the attack. They stated that the responsibility claim was made on a Facebook account operated in a foreign country and hence “further probe and interrogation” is required to be done.

As per the report, the accused have booked under Indian Penal Code section 307 (attempt to murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention) and relevant provisions of the Arms Act.

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