Bishnoi's gang member claims Karan Johar was on the target list for extortion

Siddhesh Kamble alias Mahakal an alleged member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang has told investigators that Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar was on the list of persons whom the gang planned to target for extortion a police official said on SaturdayBut a senior official also warned that these claims have not been verified yet and there was a possibility that there was an element of bragging in Kambles statementsKamble was a close aide of Santosh Jadhav a suspected shooter in the Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala murder case and well aware of the murder conspiracy a police official saidWhile Kamble is in the custody of Pune rural police for an earlier case registered in the district teams of Delhi Polices Special Cell Punjab Police and Mumbai Crime branch have questioned him in connection with the Moose Wala murder and a threat letter received by Bollywood actor Salman Khan and his father Salim Khan earlier this monthIn his statements before the investigating teams Kamble disclosed a lot of information about the Moose Wala murder conspiracy and named Santosh Jadhav and one Nagnath Suryavanshi as having been involved in the killing the official told PTIHe also provided information about future plans of the Bishnoi gang which is suspected to be behind Moose Walas killing the official saidThe gang had allegedly planned to extort Rs 5 crore from Johar by threatening him he saidAs per Kambles statement Vikram Brar brother of Canadabased gangster Goldie Brar had discussed these plans with him on Instagram and Signal appsA woman involved in drug trafficking and a doctor who had allegedly desecrated a holy book of the Sikh community were also on the target list the official saidInvestigating agencies are still verifying Kambles claims he addedJadhav and his aide Navnath Suryavanshi were arrested by Pune rural police from Bhuj in Gujarat earlier this weekAfter Moose Walas murder in May the Bishnoi gang was trying to take advantage of the sensation it had caused and had decided to threaten Bollywood celebrities the official claimedThreatening Salman Khan for extortion was part of this plan hatched by Vikram Brar he saidPolice had earlier claimed citing information given by Kamble that Vikram Brar had sent three members of the Bishnoi gang to Mumbai to deliver the threat letter to Salman KhanBut a senior official of Pune rural police cautioned that they were still verifying Kambles claim about Karan Johar being a target for extortionWith some accused there is an element of bragging in their confessions The motive behind bragging is to gain publicity and get bigger extortion amounts This phenomenon is common in Punjab and other neighbouring states They gangsters want their names to get associated with highprofile cases said the officerFive gangsters have taken responsibility for the Moose Wala murder but none of them was present on the spot when the crime took place on May 29 in Punjabs Mansa district he saidMahakal is a small fish Vikram Brar told him about Karan Johar Why Brar told this to Mahakal who is just a foot soldier Because Brar wants to increase his clout and impress youths like Mahakal he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever