Who is gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and why is he targeting Salman Khan?

After the murder of India’s NCP leader Baba Siddiqui, known for his friendship with Salman Khan and other Bollywood actors, the security at Salman's home in Mumbai's Galaxy apartment in Bandra has been beefed up. 

A Facebook account named Shubbu Lonkar Maharashtra claimed responsibility for the Baba Siddiqui murder, accusing actor Salman Khan of starting a "war". 

Notably, Siddique enjoyed close ties with Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who has been on the hit list of the Bishnoi gang since 1999.

Salman Khan has been receiving death threats from Lawrence Bishnoi for years now. 

Bishnoi also previously targeted Salman Khan when bullets were fired at his house in Galaxy Apartment in April. The same gang had also claimed to open fire at the house of Punjabi singer AP Dhillon.

In November last year, shots were fired outside singer Gippy Grewal's house in the White Rock neighbourhood in Vancouver, Canada. Lawrence Bishnoi had claimed responsibility for the attack, saying Gippy was boasting closeness to Bollywood star Salman Khan.

Why is Lawrence Bishnoi gang after Salman Khan?

Salman Khan has been on top of the gang's hit list after he was named as prime accused in the 1999 Blackbuck poaching case. 

The Bishnoi community - to which Lawrence belongs - considers Blackbuck as a sacred animal. 

The actor is accused of hunting and killing two blackbucks in Rajasthan’s Kankani during the shooting of his film Hum Saath Saath Hain. 

He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2018 but was later given bail in the case.

In a statement to the NIA on December 7, 2022, the gangster had revealed that Salman Khan is among his top targets.

"In the year 1998 Salman Khan hunted the Black Buck. Bishnoi Community worships Black Buck. This incident hurt the Bishnoi community. So I wanted to kill Salman Khan and we have threatened him. On my directions, Sampat Nehra conducted a recce of Salman khan at Mumbai. But Sampat was apprehended by Haryana STF," Bishnot admitted in the statement to police.

“We don’t want money. We just want him to visit our community temple and apologise to us. He humiliated my entire community by poaching a blackbuck. There is even a case against him but he has just refused to apologise," Bishnoi had said.

On October 13, BJP leader and former MP Harnath Singh Yadav advised Salman Khan to apologise to the Bishnoi community for his “mistake”