An accused in Salman home firing dies by suicide, magisterial probe launched

A magisterial probe began on Thursday in the alleged suicide of an accused in the firing incident outside actor Salman Khan's house in Mumbai's Bandra area on April 14.

Anuj Thapan, who was held from Punjab for allegedly supplying firearms and bullets to the arrested shooters, was found hanging on Wednesday inside the toilet of Mumbai Crime Branch's lock-up located in the commissionerate complex.

The probe initiated by the judicial magistrate is being carried out under section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and all related documents have been submitted, a police official said.

Meanwhile, the Crime Investigation Department has collected DVR of the CCTVs installed in the lock-up as part of its probe, he added.

"They will submit their findings on the footage, chain of events as well as lapses, if any, on the part of the policemen posted at the lock-up. There were four personnel on guard duty at the time of the suicide," he said.

Earlier in the day, post mortem was conducted on Thapan's body at state-run JJ hospital in Byculla.

"The post-mortem was videographed and was done in the presence of forensic doctors. It started at 4.15 pm and was completed around 5.15 pm. The body has been kept in the morgue. The findings of the autopsy are yet to be disclosed," he added.

The post mortem got delayed by several hours due to police and legal formalities, another official said.

Thapan is among the six persons named in the firing incident FIR. While four of them have been arrested, gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, currently lodged in a jail in neighbouring Gujarat, and his brother Anmol Bishnoi have been shown as wanted accused.

Officials said Thapan's kin were on their way to Mumbai.

Thapan and Sonu Kumar Bishnoi (32) were arrested by a crime branch team from Fazilka in Punjab on April 26. The two had allegedly supplied weapons to shooters Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta for firing at Salman Khan's residence.

As per the police, Thapan and Sonu Bishnoi visited Panvel near Mumbai on March 15 to deliver two country-made pistols and 38 live rounds to Pal and Gupta.

Thapan and Sonu's village in Punjab is very close to jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's village.