Two held over gunfire at Bollywood star’s home in antelope hunting row

Two members of a criminal gang have been arrested by Indian police for firing at the home of the Bollywood actor Salman Khan in retaliation for the star’s killing of two antelopes.

The Bishnoi gang, accused of several murders and extortion rackets, is from a desert-based religious sect that considers the species to be the reincarnation of their guru.

Khan, 58, has been in its crosshairs since 1998 for shooting two blackbucks on a hunting trip. The gang’s jailed leader, Lawrence Bishnoi, has previously threatened to kill Khan.

Two men on a motorbike shot at Khan’s first-floor apartment early on Sunday in the affluent Mumbai neighbourhood of Bandra, and also fired several rounds in the air before fleeing.

Khan, who is always guarded by armed police owing to threats to his life, was at home when the shots were fired. The two men, aged 24 and 21, were arrested yesterday in the western state of Gujarat, police told Agence France-Presse.

Members of the Bishnoi group pursued a criminal case against Khan for the blackbuck shooting for 20 years.

Khan was sentenced to five years in jail by a local court for violating a wildlife protection act in 2018. The penalty was suspended on appeal days after Khan was sent to prison, prompting Lawrence Bishnoi to warn that his gang would take the law into their own hands.

Khan has starred in nearly 150 films and TV shows since his first hit in the 1980s but his personal life has been dogged by controversy. In 2002, he allegedly ran over five people sleeping on a pavement in Mumbai, killing one, in a hit-and-run. He was cleared but authorities challenged his acquittal in 2016 and the case is continuing.