Arrested from Fazilka, Salman Khan case accused hangs self in lockup

Mumbai, May 1

A 32-year-old man arrested in the case related to the firing outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s residence here allegedly died by suicide in police lockup on Wednesday, an official said.

Anuj Thapan, the deceased, was accused of supplying arms to the shooters who opened fire outside Khan’s residence in Bandra on April 14 and was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch. He allegedly hanged himself with a piece of bedsheet in a toilet of the first-floor lockup, located in the crime branch’s building inside the police commissioner’s office compound, the official said.

Supplied weapons

• Anuj Thapan was accused of supplying arms to shooters
• Allegedly hung himself with a piece of bedsheet in a toilet of police lock-up in Mumbai
• Was arrested by a Mumbai crime branch team from Fazilka in Punjab on April 26

The incident came to light at 1 pm when a crime branch official noticed that Thapan was in the toilet for a long time. When the door was forced open, he was found hanging from the toilet’s window, the official said. He was rushed to the nearby state-run Gokuldas Tejpal hospital where he was declared dead during treatment, the official said. Two co-accused of Thapan in the firing case had been taken out for investigation, the official said.

Thapan and Sonu Kumar Bishnoi (32) were arrested from Fazilka on April 26. The two had allegedly supplied weapons to shooters Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta for firing at Salman Khan’s residence.