A contract of ₹ 25 lakh was taken out to kill actor Salman Khan near his farmhouse in Maharashtra’s Panvel, a chargesheet filed by the Navi Mumbai Police stated.

In the chargesheet that named five people, police stated that the contract was taken out by the gang led by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. The accused were preparing to buy state-of-the-art weapons AK 47, AK 92 and M 16 from Pakistan and the Turkish-made Zigana weapon, with which Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala was killed. The accused had hired boys below 18 years of age to kill Salman Khan, all of whom are hiding in Pune, Raigad, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Gujarat.

About 60 to 70 people were keeping track of Salman Khan’s movement, especially at his Bandra house, Panvel farmhouse and Goregaon Film City. Further, the plan to kill Salman Khan was hatched between August 2023 and April 2024, as per the chargesheet.

Investigation revealed that Sukkha who was arrested from Haryana’s Panipat on Thursday, assigned the hit to the designated shooter Ajay Kashyap alias AK and four others involved in the conspiracy. A recce by Kashyap and his team led to the conclusion that owing to the actor’s tight security and bulletproof vehicles, high-end weapons would be required to carry out the murder.

Sukkha contacted Pakistan-based arms dealer Dogar through video call, showing AK-47 and other advanced fire arms wrapped in a shawl, while negotiating the terms of the arms deal. Dogar agreed to supply the weapons, while Sukha agreed to make 50 percent advance payment and the remaining amount on delivery in India.

Police also found that all the shooters were waiting for a go-ahead from Canada-based gangster Goldie Brar and Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother Anmol Bishnoi.

The chargesheet also details a plan made by the shooters to gather in Kanyakumari after shooting the 58-year-old actor, from where they would travel to Sri Lanka by boat and then to a country where Indian investigation agencies could not reach them.

The conspiracy to target Salman Khan at his Panvel farmhouse was unearthed when the police was investigation the incident of firing outside his house in Bandra.

Meanwhile, security has been increased outside Salman Khan’s Bandra residence following the killing of former minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique. The latter, a former MLA from Bandra and leader in Ajit Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was shot near Nirmal Nagar in Bandra.

Mumbai: Ahead of Maharashtra assembly elections, Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer Sameer Wankhede is set to join the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) faction. His process for his formal entry into the party is underway and he will officially join the Shiv Sena in next two days, sources say.

Wankhede, the former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director is likely to contest the 2024 assembly elections from Mumbai’s Dharavi constituency.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it was reported that Wankhede was keen on joining the BJP and contest from Wardha constituency in Maharashtra’s Vidharbha region, his hometown.

IRS Sameer Wankhede has always been in the news due to his strict actions and raids he conducted during his postings at Mumbai Customs and NCB. In 2022, he led Cordelia case where a cruise ship was raided and Aryan Khan the son of actor Shah Rukh Khan was arrested on charges of drug use and possession. All charges against Aryan Khan were dropped later, with Wankhede removed from the case after being accused of blackmail.

Wankhede is currently posted in Chennai.

This is a breaking news. More details will be updated.

Mumbai: A breakdown in the 900 mm valve of the Vaitarna water pipeline system at Tarali, Thane district, has led to a water cut in Mumbai. This disruption has resulted in a 5 to 10 per cent reduction in water supply to the Bhandup Water Treatment Plant, prompting the BMC to implement up to 10 per cent water cut for next 48 hours staring from this morning (Thursday October 17 to Friday October 18).

The daily water supply to Mumbai primarily comes from the Vaitarna Dam. A malfunction in the pipeline at Tarali, which carries water from the dam, has necessitated immediate repairs by the hydraulic engineering department, requiring a partial shutdown of the water conveyance system.

The repair work is expected to take around 48 hours, due to which the citizens will have to face a 5 to 10 % water cut. The BMC has appealed to the citizens to store sufficient water and use it judiciously.

Meanwhile, after adequate rainfall this monsoon, the water levels in seven reservoirs supplying drinking water to Mumbai has crossed 97 per cent. As of October 17, the seven dams supplying water to Mumbai hold 1,409,761 million litres of water. On the same day last year, water levels were 96.02 per cent.

The seven dams supplying water to Mumbai are: Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna, Tansa, Bhatsa, Tulsi, Vihar and Modak Sagar.