Mumbai: Navi Mumbai Police infiltrated social media groups, including WhatsApp, before arresting four members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang for allegedly hatching a plot to attack actor Salman Khan, an official said on Saturday.
The action comes months after police arrested him in connection with the shooting outside the actor's Bandra home in Mumbai.
Zone II (Panvel) Deputy Commissioner of Police Vivek Pansare told the media that Panvel police station senior inspector Nitin Thackeray had received input about a conspiracy to harm the actor in September-October last year.
Subsequently, some Navi Mumbai police officials and informers infiltrated the WhatsApp and other social media groups of the Bishnoi gang and started monitoring the conversations on those platforms, he said.
Police said they learned that the four arrested gang members had conducted recce of Salman's farmhouse in Panvel, the areas around his house in Bandra, Mumbai and places where he had gone for film shooting.He said that attempts were also made to import weapons from abroad.
After gathering inputs, police in April registered a case against 17 people, including Lawrence Bishnoi and his younger brother Anmol Bishnoi, the police said.
The official said the accused Dhananjay Tapesingh alias Ajay Kashyap (28) was arrested from Panvel on April 28. On the same day, Gaurav Bhatia alias Sandeep Bishnoi was detained from Gujarat.
The third person, Waspi Khan alias Wasim Chikna, was caught from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, while Rizwan Khan alias Javed Khan was arrested from Bengaluru, he said.They have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections including 120 (conspiracy) and 506 (criminal intimidation), the officer said.
Lawrence Bishnoi is currently lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, while Anmol Bishnoi is believed to be in the US or Canada.
On 14 April, two bike-riding men fired several rounds outside Khan's home Galaxy Apartments in Bandra, Mumbai. Shooters Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal were arrested from Gujarat.
Sonu Bishnoi and Anuj Thapan, who allegedly supplied weapons to the shooters, were later arrested from Punjab. Thapan had allegedly hanged himself in the police lock-up here on May 1.Mumbai Police later made more arrests in the case
The action comes months after police arrested him in connection with the shooting outside the actor's Bandra home in Mumbai.
Zone II (Panvel) Deputy Commissioner of Police Vivek Pansare told the media that Panvel police station senior inspector Nitin Thackeray had received input about a conspiracy to harm the actor in September-October last year.
Subsequently, some Navi Mumbai police officials and informers infiltrated the WhatsApp and other social media groups of the Bishnoi gang and started monitoring the conversations on those platforms, he said.
Police said they learned that the four arrested gang members had conducted recce of Salman's farmhouse in Panvel, the areas around his house in Bandra, Mumbai and places where he had gone for film shooting.He said that attempts were also made to import weapons from abroad.
After gathering inputs, police in April registered a case against 17 people, including Lawrence Bishnoi and his younger brother Anmol Bishnoi, the police said.
The official said the accused Dhananjay Tapesingh alias Ajay Kashyap (28) was arrested from Panvel on April 28. On the same day, Gaurav Bhatia alias Sandeep Bishnoi was detained from Gujarat.
The third person, Waspi Khan alias Wasim Chikna, was caught from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, while Rizwan Khan alias Javed Khan was arrested from Bengaluru, he said.They have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections including 120 (conspiracy) and 506 (criminal intimidation), the officer said.
Lawrence Bishnoi is currently lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, while Anmol Bishnoi is believed to be in the US or Canada.
On 14 April, two bike-riding men fired several rounds outside Khan's home Galaxy Apartments in Bandra, Mumbai. Shooters Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal were arrested from Gujarat.
Sonu Bishnoi and Anuj Thapan, who allegedly supplied weapons to the shooters, were later arrested from Punjab. Thapan had allegedly hanged himself in the police lock-up here on May 1.Mumbai Police later made more arrests in the case
