Angry With Blackbuck Poaching, Gangster Sampat Nehra Wanted to Kill Salman Khan: Police

New Delhi: Enraged over actor Salman Khan getting bail in the 20-year-old blackbuck poaching case, a notorious Bishnoi gang took it upon itself to avenge the killing of the community’s revered antelope.

The infamous Lawrence Bishnoi gang hired sharpshooter Sampat Nehra for the purpose. According to the police, 28-year-old Nehra had gone to Mumbai for a recce as part of the plan. He clicked photos of the actor's home and the routes leading to it on his mobile phone.

“Bishnoi had threatened to kill Salman Khan in connection with blackbuck case. Nehra had gone to recce his residence in Mumbai and planned to flee outside India after executing plan,” news agency ANI quoted police as saying.

Earlier this year, gangster Bishnoi had said that he would kill Salman Khan in Jodhpur. The actor was sentenced to five years in prison by a Jodhpur court in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case. However, he was later granted bail by a sessions court.

According to some media reports, a few men had entered Mumbai film city premises in January while Salman was shooting for his upcoming movie Race 3. Following the development, over a dozen policemen were rushed to the sets of the film and they escorted the actor to his residence in Bandra.

Nehra, who originally hails from Rajgarh in Rajasthan, was arrested from Hyderabad’s Miyapur region by a special task force of Haryana Police three days ago.

A national-level decathlon silver medallist, the inter-state criminal was carrying a reward of Rs 2 lakh on his head – Rs 1 lakh by Haryana police and Rs 50,000 each by Rajasthan and Punjab police. He was wanted in 12 murder cases, 6 attempt-to-murder cases, 2 prominent extortion and 5 prominent dacoity cases.

While Bishnoi is currently incarcerated in Jodhpur jail, Nehra was handling the operations of the gang on his behalf. The sharpshooter and his gang were involved in the attempted murder of an INLD leader's brother, demanding a ransom of Rs 3 crore from a businessman in Chandigarh, opening fire at a police team to free their associate Deepak from police custody and killing a man after looting his SUV at gun point in Kurukshetra.