Two people arrested for firing at Salman Khan's home

POLICE in India have arrested two members of a criminal gang for a gun attack that targeted the home of Bollywood actor Salman Khan, reports the BBC.

The superstar, who appears in more than 100 films, had angered the notorious Bishnoi gang by killing two antelopes more than 20 years ago, police say.

The gang belongs to a religious sect that considers the animal sacred.

Mr Khan is unharmed, but this is the latest in a series of threats the actor has received in recent years.

Police in Mumbai said the two men approached on a motorbike early on Sunday morning and fired five rounds at Khan's apartment in the affluent Bandra neighbourhood before fleeing.

Vicky Gupta, 24, and Sagar Kumar Palak, 21, were arrested near a temple in Kutch district in Gujarat on Monday night.

According to the police, the pair confessed to their involvement in the shooting incident outside Galaxy Apartments.

The actor and several family members were present at home when the attack took place. No one was injured.

The police say the men belong to a criminal organization formed by now-jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.

The group had in the past threatened and tried to attack Khan for his alleged killing of the blackbuck antelopes in 1998 while on location in Rajasthan, where he was filming the blockbuster Hum Saath-Saath Hain.

Khan, known for films such as Tiger Zinda Hai, Sultan and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, was handed a five-year jail term in 2018 for poaching the protected animals, but his sentence was later suspended on appeal.

Bishnoi is currently serving a jail sentence for his involvement in several high-profile murder cases, including the killing of the Indian rapper Sidhu Moose Wala in 2022.

According to the authorities, the plan to shoot the 58-year old actor was devised by Lawrence Bishnoi's younger brother, Anmol, through a Facebook post which has been traced to Canada.

During a police interrogation, another Bishnoi gang member reportedly told the police that the alleged attackers had followed Khan's movements for days and that they had rented a room for a month near his apartment.

A team of police officers from five states - Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab - carried out a co-ordinated search to catch those behind the shooting.

The two alleged perpetrators were presented before a court in Mumbai on Tuesday. The city's crime branch asked the judge for more time to put together evidence to prosecute the suspects.

They will remain in custody until their next hearing, set for 25 April.