Lawrence Bishnoi's cousin Ramesh Bishnoi has said the entire Bishnoi community stands with the jailed gangster over the black buck incident involving Bollywood star Salman Khan. In an interview with NDTV, Ramesh alleged that Salman Khan had offered money to the Bishnoi community, but they refused to accept it.
Lawrence Bishnoi is a gangster facing multiple charges and is currently lodged at Gujarat's Sabarmati jail. Salman Khan reportedly received death threats from Lawrence Bishnoi and his gang on several occasions after the Blackbuck incident.
Salman Khan was accused of hunting a black buck - considered sacred by the Bishnoi community. In a 2023 interview with a TV channel, Lawrence Bishnoi said Salman Khan had disrespected the Bishnoi community by killing a blackbuck, news agency PTI reported on August 30.
Lawrence's cousin Ramesh told NDTV that Salman Khan had offered money to the Bishnoi community earlier. “His father, Salim Khan, said that the Lawrence gang is doing this for money. I want to remind him his son brought a cheque book in front of the community, saying fill in the figures and take it. If we were hungry for money, we would have taken it at that time,” he was quoted as saying.
Lawrence's cousin Ramesh said every member of the Bishnoi community was angry when the blackbuck incident happened. He said the community is ready to make sacrifices to save animals.
"...When Salman Khan killed the black buck, every Bishnoi's blood was boiling. We left it to the court to decide. But if the community was made fun of, then it is natural for society to get angry. Today, the entire Bishnoi community stands with Lawrence in this matter," Ramesh said.
On April 24 this year, Navi Mumbai Police registered a case against 18 identified and other unidentified members of the Bishnoi gang for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to kill Salman Khan at his farmhouse at Panvel near Mumbai.
The development followed a firing outside the actor's Bandra residence in Mumbai by Bishnoi gang members.
Security was tightened at the residence of Bollywood actor Salman Khan after fresh death threats were received demanding an extortion payment of ₹5 crore.
According to Mumbai police, “A threatening message has been received on the WhatsApp number of Mumbai Traffic Police, demanding ₹5 crore from actor Salman Khan to end his long-standing rivalry with Lawrence Bishnoi.”
The sender had claimed, "Don't take it lightly, if Salman Khan wants to stay alive and wants to end the enmity with Lawrence Bishnoi, then he will have to pay ₹5 crore. If the money is not given, Salman Khan's condition will be worse than Baba Siddique."
Few days later, the Mumbai traffic police received an apology from a mobile phone number that was earlier used to send a threatening message demanding ₹5 crore from Salman Khan, officials were quoted as saying by PTI.
(With inputs from PTI)
