Active Member Of Lawrence Bishnoi Gang, Shot Bullets At Gallery Often Used By Salman Khan: Mumbai Court Denies Bail

A Mumbai Sessions Court last week while denying bail to Vicky Gupta, one of the accused, arrested in the 'firing' case outside the residence of Bollywood actor Salman Khan, said that the accused shot the bullets at the first floor of his lavished house in Bandra, where he often spends time every morning.

Special Judge BD Shelke took into account the statements of Salman Khan, who has told the police that being a celebrity and having a huge fanbase who often gather outside his house, he greets them by standing in the gallery of the first floor of his Galaxy Apartments.

"Even, in early morning he used to stay in gallery of first floor of his house. Thus, the statement of victim and the recitals of FIR indicate at this stage that the shots were fired with the direction of his place of use in his house," the court said in its order passed on October 18.

Further, the judge noted that though the applicant Gupta did not shoot, he was still an active member of the gang and was part of the criminal conspiracy that was hatched at the behest of 'wanted accused' Anmol Bishnoi and the 'gang leader' Lawrence Bishnoi, to commit the offence.

The judge noted from the confessional statements of the two accused, the manner in which they joined the 'gang' led by Lawrence Bishnoi. It therefore, junked the argument that the provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) cannot be invoked against the duo as neither do they have any antecedents nor do they face any chargesheet.

Judge Shelke noted that already two chargesheets have been filed against the 'organised crime syndicate' in Rajasthan and New Delhi, in two separate cases and thus, the duo can be booked under the provisions of the MCOCA.

"In those cases, gang-leader Lawrence Bishnoi alongwith Anmol Bishnoi and other associates hatched conspiracy and committed offence of firing on Hotelier and those offences have been registered. There is commonality between the earlier offences and this offence," the judge pointed out.

Further, the court said that the accused does not satisfy the provisions of section 21(4) of the MCOCA, which imposes a twin condition - (i) there are no reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of such offence and; (ii) that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.

"These two conditions have not been satisfied by this accused. The material placed on record clearly demonstrates at this stage that he is having complicity in this crime. Even, considering nature of offence the possibility of repeatation of similar crimes being a member of gang can not be ruled out. Therefore, this Court is of the view that the accused no.1 has not satisfied the above referred twin conditions laid down in Section 21(4) of MCOC Act. Therefore, he is not entitled for bail," the court said while dismissing the bail application.

On April 14, two bike-borne men - Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, opened fire outside Salman Khan's residence. The duo were later arrested from Gujarat. A third man - Anuj Thapan was arrested on April 26 from Punjab along with one other person in the case. However, Thapan was found dead on May 1 inside the washroom of the crime branch's police lock-up. 

Appearance: 

Advocate Pankaj Ghildiyal appeared for the Applicant.

Special Public Prosecutor Wajeed Shaikh represented the State.

Case Title: Vickykumar Gupta vs State of Maharashtra 

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