New Delhi:

Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, has been added to the most-wanted list of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), sources said.

The anti-terror agency has also announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for the arrest of Anmol Bishnoi, who is wanted in connection with a shooting incident that occurred outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s Mumbai residence earlier this year.

Anmol, Lawrence Bishnoi – who is currently lodged in the Sabarmati central prison in Ahmedabad – and Canada-based gangster Goldie Brar were among the persons named as accused in the case related to the firing outside Mr Khan’s Bandra residence in Mumbai in April.

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The Navi Mumbai police had in this case arrested five Bishnoi gang members – Dhananjay alias Ajay Kashyap alias Nahvi, Gaurav Bhatia, Waspi Khan alias Wasim Chikna, Rizwan Khan alias Javed, and Deepak Hawa Singh alias John.

After the arrests, police in June also claimed to have uncovered a plot to target the actor on his way to his farmhouse near Panvel in Navi Mumbai.

The name of Anmol Bishnoi had also cropped up in the murder case of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique. The 66-year-old NCP leader was shot dead by three persons in Mumbai, just outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office, on October 12.

Anmol Bishnoi’s Speech To Shooters In Salman Khan House Firing

On the night of April 14, Mumbai’s Bandra neighbourhood was rocked by the sound of gunfire as two men on motorbikes fired multiple rounds outside Salman Khan’s residence.

A detailed chargesheet shed light on the events leading up to the attack on the actor’s house and revealed a long conversation between Anmol Bishnoi — who is reportedly operating from outside the country — and the shooters involved.

A 9-minute-long speech by Anmol Bishnoi was aimed at instilling courage in the shooters, Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, as they prepared to “script history” with their violent act.

ALSO READ | “Either Bullets Will Be Fired Or…”: Details In Salman Khan House Firing

According to the chargesheet, the plan was hatched over several months, from August 2023 to April 2024.

Investigations have revealed that the Bishnoi gang intended to acquire advanced firearms from Pakistan, including AK-47s, AK-92s, M16 rifles, and the Turkish-made Zigana pistol, the weapon used in the murder of Punjabi singer-politician Sidhu Moose Wala in May 2022.

According to the chargesheet, a network of approximately 60 to 70 individuals was involved in tracking Mr Khan’s every movement. This extensive surveillance covered his residence in Mumbai, his Panvel farmhouse, and even the Goregaon Film City, which he often visited for film shoots.

New Delhi:

All the three terror suspects arrested in the crackdown on the ISIS network in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh today are engineers by education and had expertise in making bombs, police have said.

HGS Dhaliwal, senior officer in Delhi Police Special Cell, said one of the three terror suspects arrested today is Mohammad Shahnawaz, who was on the most wanted list of National Investigation Agency (NIA). The NIA had last month announced a cash award of Rs 3 lakh each for information about Shahnawaz and two others, who allegedly played key roles in blasts in different parts of the country.

The other two arrested are Shahnawaz’s associates Mohammed Rizwan Ashraf and Mohammed Arshad Warsi, Mr Dhaliwal said.

While Shahnawaz was arrested from Delhi’s Jaitpur, Rizwan and Ashraf were caught from Lucknow and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

Police said they have recovered a pistol, items used in bombmaking, chemicals and Jihadi literature from Pakistan at Shahnawaz’s Delhi hideout. The three suspects, Mr Dhaliwal said, had conducted recce in different parts of the country and tested bombs.

They would stay in touch with their ISIS handler and shared reports on a regular basis. They had been instructed to procure all items they need locally so that external role in their work is not exposed, polie said.

Shahnawaz, police said, is from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand. A mining engineer by education, he had knowledge of engineering blasts. His wife was a Hindu by birth but had converted to Islam before they married. She is on the run now.

Mohammed Arshad Warsi, police said, is also from Jharkhand. He had completed a BTech in Mechanical Engineering from Aligarh University and had been pursuing a doctorate from Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi.

Mohammed Rizwan Ashraf holds a BTech in computer science. Originally from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, he had trained as a cleric too.

Mr Dhaliwal said the ongoing crackdown has exposed the pan-India module of ISIS. “Their aim was to target well-know people and inflict maximum casualties,” he said, adding that they have also uncovered the funding trail behind such activities.