Two days after the police invoked the
Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act
(MCOCA), the three main accused in the firing case outside actor Salman Khan’s home were on Monday sent to
police custody
till May 8, while one was given judicial custody for health reasons.
Vicky Gupta
(24),
Sagal Pal
(21), and Anuj Thapan (32) have been sent to police custody till May 8 as the investigators want to unravel the entire conspiracy behind the pre-dawn shooting outside Khan’s Bandra West home on April 14.
The fourth accused, Sonu Chander Bishnoi (37), was remanded to judicial custody on health grounds.
The accused were earlier booked under the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act.
In the proceedings held on camera, the court sent Gupta, Pal and Thapan to police custody till May 8 and remanded Bishnoi to judicial custody.
Public prosecutor Jaisingh Desai sought the custody of the accused, citing that the police needed to conduct a detailed investigation to unearth the conspiracy.
Police had registered the first information report (FIR) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 307 (attempt to murder) after two motorbike-borne men fired at Galaxy Apartment in Bandra, Khan’s residence, in the early hours of April 14.
Last weekend, after the arrests of Sonu Bishnoi and Thapan, plus two others named as wanted accused, the
Mumbai Police
slapped the dreaded MCOCA besides the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act.
The two others are mafia don
Lawrence Bishnoi
, and his brother Anmol Bishnoi, who had claimed responsibility for the firing on April 14.
While Gupta and Pal are accused of firing five rounds at Khan’s Galaxy Apartments, Sonu Bishnoi and Thapan allegedly supplied them with two pistols and bullets.
The pistols and bullets were flung into Tapi River in Surat (Gujarat) by Gupta and Pal, who later fled to Kachchh district bordering Pakistan from where they were nabbed within 36 hours of the incident on April 16.
After nabbing Gupta and Pal, both from Bihar, the police also arrested Sonu Bishnoi and Thapan from Punjab on April 25 and brought them to Mumbai.
Anmol Bishnoi, who is now wanted in the case, is reportedly living in Canada, and keeps travelling to the US and other nations, while his brother Lawrence Bishnoi is currently jailed for various crimes.
