A 20-year-old man from Noida has been arrested for sending death threats to actor Salman Khan and Maharashtra MLA Zeeshan Siddique, NDTV reported on Tuesday.
Zeeshan Siddique is the son of former state minister Baba Siddique who was murdered on October 12.
The threats, demanding ransom in exchange for their safety, were received on Friday evening.
The police filed a first information report based on a complaint by the MLA’s staff. This led to the arrest of Mohammed Tayyab, who is suspected of sending the threats.
Tayyab, who is from Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, resides in Jaffrabad area of Delhi, IANS reported.
Baba Siddique, a member of the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, was shot dead, allegedly by three men, in Mumbai’s Bandra on the evening of October 12.
Shubham Lonkar, an alleged member of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s group, had in a social media post claimed responsibility for the murder.
Lonkar said that Baba Siddique was killed because of his close relations with Bollywood star Salman Khan and alleged connections with members of the underworld, including fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
The post also mentioned a person named Anuj Thapan, who was accused of firing a gun at Khan’s Bandra residence in April. In May, Thapan allegedly died by suicide in police custody.
Bishnoi, who is lodged at Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central Jail, has frequently made news for his threats to Khan. The actor attracted the gangster’s attention after allegedly killing a blackbuck during the shooting of a film in Rajasthan in 1998. The animal is sacred to the Bishnoi community.
On October 22, Mumbai Police arrested Amit Hisamsing Kumar who they claim is suspected to be an important link between the shooter and the mastermind Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar in the killing of Baba Siddique.
Some of the accused in the Baba Siddique murder case are still absconding.
The threats to Zeeshan Siddique came amid campaigning for the Maharashtra Assembly election next month. On Friday, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party confirmed the candidature of Zeeshan Siddique from the Bandra East seat.
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