Salman Khan firing case: ‘Debt-ridden’ accused says had no intention to harm actor

In his bail petition, the accused, Vicky Kumar Gupta, said that although he was “influenced” by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. He added that he did not receive any call from Lawrence Bishnoi nor any middle-man had instigated him to talk to Bishnoi, “as he is wrongly inducted” in the case.

The accused said that he only wanted to threaten Salman Khan “for not apologising for killing a Blackbuck”.

One of the accused in the firing at actor Salman Khan’s house filed a bail petition before a special court on Tuesday and said that he fired at Khan’s house as he was in debt, and he didn’t have any past criminal record.

The accused, Vicky Kumar Gupta, who had fired at Khan’s residence in Bandra on April 14, filed a bail plea before a special court in Mumbai through his lawyers Amit Mishra, Pankaj Ghildiyal and Suneel Mishra.

He said in the plea that he was influenced by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s character, and was “magnetically attached to the principles followed by Lawrence Bishnoi, as Bishnoi was ardent follower of Bhagat Singh.”

The plea further stated that Gupta did not receive any call from Lawrence Bishnoi nor any middle-man had instigated him to talk to Bishnoi, “as he is wrongly inducted in the present case, and do not have any role to play in the present matter.”

It further stressed that Bishnoi had been “unnecessarily and without any cause of action” entangled by the prosecution in the case.

The plea stated that Gupta committed the offence under the influence of Anmol Bishnoi, Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother, who is another accused in the case and is absconding, who had told him that nothing would happen to him after committing the crime.

The plea stated that there was no intention to harm Khan and that Anmol had shared details with him on social media app Signal to only threaten Salman Khan “for not apologising for killing a Blackbuck”, a holy animal worshipped by the Bishnoi community.

“That is why no sophisticated weapon was used but a desi katta was used for the offence,” the plea argued.

The plea stated that Gupta’s co-accused, Sagarkumar Pal, had at one point of time financially helped him with Rs 500 and had even helped him in getting a job as a driver in Jalandar, Punjab, due to which he decided to help Pal.

Special Judge BD Shelke directed the crime branch to file a reply to Gupta’s bail plea by August 13.