Mumbai: Actor Salman Khan and MLA Zeeshan Siddique received yet another death threat, along with a demand for Rs 2 crore, on Tuesday morning. Two threat messages were received on the city traffic police’s WhatsApp helpline around 10am, and within hours, Worli police tracked down the sender — Bandra West resident Azam Mohammed Mustafa (56), who was earlier employed as a production manager in Saudi Arabia— and arrested him.
The arrest comes a day after Mumbai Police apprehended Mohammed Tayyab alias Gufran Khan (20) from Noida for allegedly making a call and sending messages to Zeeshan’s office helpline in Bandra (E), claiming that he overheard people planning to kill him and Salman, to expecting the MLA to reward him for providing the ‘death threat’ information.
Police said that like Tayyab, Mustafa too has no criminal record. “We are questioning Mustafa to find out why he sent the two threat messages,” said a senior police officer.
Police have seized Mustafa’s phone and will send it for forensic analysis. The first message received on the traffic police helpline said that if Salman and Zeeshan want to save their lives, they should pay Rs 2 crore. The message further said, “Don’t take this lightly, or you’ll know on Oct 31.” In the second message, the accused said that it was not a prank and mentioned the assassination of NCP leader Baba Siddique outside his son Zeeshan’s office on Oct 12. Mustafa, who lives with his wife and son, has been remanded in police custody for one day.
Last week, Worli police had arrested Shaikh Hussain (24), a vegetable vendor from Jamshedpur, for allegedly sending threat messages to Mumbai Traffic Police’s WhatsApp helpline on Oct 18, demanding Rs 5 crore. The message included a threat that Salman’s “condition will be worse than Baba Siddique” if the demand wasn’t met. Two days later, Shaikh sent a text apologising for the threat message.
In the past, Salman has received several death threats from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang members, who also opened fire at his Bandra residence in April. The actor’s security was enhanced, but the situation got serious when his close friend, Baba Siddique, was shot dead allegedly by Bishnoi men on Oct 12.