Who Is Lawrence Bishnoi And Why Is His Gang Targeting Salman Khan And Now Tiger Shroff?
Mumbai, Maharashtra: Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff escaped unhurt after two unidentified men fired at least three rounds of gunfire at the actor while he was inside his car in Mumbai’s Juhu area on Sunday evening. The actor’s driver has sustained bullet injury to his hand. The horrific attack targeting the actor amid crowd has ignited fears of deteriorating law and order issue in the city.
Hours after the incident, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for the firing. A man claiming to be associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang said Shroff was targeted because of his alleged association with actor Salman Khan, whom the gang has been threatening. The gang had opened fire on Salman Khan’s apartment in 2024, and has been threatening the actor and the ones who is associated with him. Following the attack on Tiger Shroff, Salman Khan’s Bandra home has been given additional security.
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Veteran politician and former state minister Baba Siddique was shot dead in 2024 allegedly by Lawrence Bishnoi Gang for his close association with Salman Khan. The gang had taken responsibility back then. The long-standing hostility of Lawrence Bishnoi and the Bishnoi community in Rajasthan towards Salman Khan is tied to a 1998 blackbuck poaching case.
The incident occurred in October 1998 when Salman Khan was in Rajasthan shooting the film Hum Saath Saath Hain. The actor, along with several other co-actors, were accused of hunting and killing protected blackbucks — an endangered Schedule I species under the Wildlife Protection Act — near Kankani village in Jodhpur.
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Notably, the Bishnoi Community, a eco-religious community known for its strict commitment to nature conservation, wildlife protection, and a peaceful, vegetarian lifestyle, was outraged by the killing of the blackbucks, which they consider as a sacred animal. The community lodged formal complaints and fiercely pursued legal action for decades.
Though Salman Khan was arrested, he was granted bail. The Rajasthan High Court acquitted Khan in related chinkara poaching cases due to a lack of evidence. Although the actor was convicted again in 2018, he secured bail, and the case remains pending before the high court. The court procedure delay angered the Bishnoi community, leading to threats to the actor’s life.
Who is Lawrence Bishnoi
One of the gangsters from the community, Lawrence Bishnoi, was born in Dutarawali village in Punjab’s Fazilka district. He has been leading a network of over 700 operatives and shooters across multiple Indian states, including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi. Though he is in jail in Gujarat, he still allegedly coordinates operations via smuggled and encrypted communications.
However, with the gang purportedly targeting actor Tiger Shroff, police have launched an investigation and a manhunt to identify the accused shooters and arrest those responsible.
A video has emerged online in which a man has threatened others in the film industry who work with Salman Khan. “Anyone in the film industry who works separately from us, or works with Salman Khan, we will kill him. And this is the first and last warning,” the man said, NDTV quoted.
