look news india
Mumbai: On April 14, there was firing at Galaxy Apartments, the house of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan in Bandra. Vicky Gupta, an accused in this firing case, said in his bail plea filed in the special MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime) court on Monday that the intention behind the firing was not to injure anyone.
Gupta and Sagarkumar Pal, who fired shots at Salman's house, said Khan wanted to intimidate them as he had not apologised even after killing Kaliyar, a revered saint of the Bishnoi community in Rajasthan 26 years ago. Besides, Gupta told the court that his 'debt' prompted him to commit the alleged crime as he had fallen into debt and was influenced by the ideology of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
Gupta also said that Lawrence Bishnoi has been wrongly named in the case and he had no role in the shooting as alleged by the Mumbai Police. In a chargesheet filed in a court here last month, the police had named Lawrence Bishnoi, his brother Anmol Bishnoi and key gang member Rohit Godara as 'wanted accused' in the case.
According to the police, Gupta and Pal, who came on a motorcycle on April 14, opened fire outside Khan's Galaxy Apartments in Bandra in the morning and fled. After the incident, the police arrested both of them from Gujarat. Then the police clarified that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang was behind the incident. Gupta filed a bail plea before a special court constituted under the MCOCA Offenses Act on Monday. Special Judge BD Shebke sought a reply from the prosecution and adjourned the case till August 13 for arguments.
The petitioner (Gupta) was influenced by the character of Lawrence Bishnoi, who is an ardent follower of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, through electronic print and social media in Vasiv. This was stated in the bail application. Gupta said that he comes from a poor background and lives in a remote village in Bihar. He was in debt and this forced him to commit such a crime.
According to the petition, the main motive of the firing was to intimidate Salman for not apologizing for the alleged act of hunting (killing) a blackbuck in 1998. A Rajasthan court had convicted Khan in the blackbuck hunting case but was later acquitted by the High Court. Gupta claimed in the special court that he did not receive any call from Lawrence Bishnoi in the firing case nor did any middleman instigate him to talk to the gangster.
The petition also said that the prosecution wanted to implicate Lawrence Bishnoi in the case with malafide intentions. After being in jail for over three months, Gupta sought bail arguing that he posed no threat to public safety.
