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Gufran Khan, the 20-year-old arrested from Noida in connection with death threats to actor Salman Khan and MLA Zeeshan Siddique, has told police that he wanted to scare them and make money.
Gufran works as a tattoo artist in Noida. He was arrested after Mumbai Police started investigating a threat message sent to Zeeshan Siddiqui's Bandra office on Friday evening. The message, sent to the MLA's office number, said Salman Khan and Zeeshan Siddique are in danger and a conspiracy to kill them is being plotted. The message added that the sender knew who wanted to kill them. Mumbai Police tracked down the number the message was sent from and arrested Gufran in Noida. He has been taken to Mumbai on a transit remand.
The 20-year-old has told police that he had planned to send another threat message, demanding money in exchange for information, but he was arrested before he could do so, the sources said. He has told police that he was hoping that the message would scare Salman Khan and Zeeshan Siddique and at least one of them would try to contact him and he would manage to make some money.
The threat message was sent weeks after Zeeshan Siddique's father, former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, was shot dead near the MLA's Bandra office. Jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's gang has claimed responsibility for the murder.
Salman Khan has received multiple threats over the past few weeks. Earlier, a vegetable seller from Jamshedpur was arrested in connection with a threat message that demanded the actor pay a ransom of Rs 5 crore. Later, a message from the same number apologised for the ransom call and said it was a mistake. Another threat message to Mumbai traffic control today threatened that the actor would be killed unless he paid Rs 2 crore as ransom.
These messages come months after the firing incident outside the actor's Mumbai home in April. An investigation revealed that jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's gang was behind the firing. Salman Khan has in the past received death threats from the Bishnoi gang, apparently due to his involvement in the blackbuck hunting case in Rajasthan during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain. The actor's security has been beefed up after the firing and death threats.
Making an appearance on TV show Bigg Boss 18 days after Baba Siddique's murder, Salman Khan said he didn't want to be back on the show, but his work commitments brought him back. The actor said he didn't feel like meeting anyone because of the difficult situation he was going through.
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