Bollywood celebs who were threatened by the underworld

Rajasthan gangster Lawrence Bishnoi threatened to kill Race 3 actor Salman Khan in Jodhpur where the actor had gone for the hearing of his blackbuck poaching case. “Salman Khan will be killed here, in Jodhpur…Then he will come to know about our real identity,” Bishnoi said while being taken to a Jodhpur court amidst heavy police security. Though Salman returned to Mumbai and resumed the shoot of his next, Race 3 with Jacqueline Fernandez, the threats continued. On Wednesday, the shoot of Race 3 was stopped by Mumbai police and Salman was taken to his home in Bandra.

Confirming the news of threats, Salman’s father Salim Khan reportedly said that while he doesn’t know the exact details about when Salman left the sets, but he does know that there were some threats. Salim also reportedly said that Salman has a good team of security personnel and this is not the first time that he is getting such threats. When the former screenwriter was asked if they have planned to take legal action against the gangster, he replied that they are only trying to ensure that Salman is safe and he will be going to the shoots normally right now.

Arijit Singh threatened by the underworld?

Bollywood has always been under the underworld's scanner. Celebs have often complained about the threat calls received by the members of the underworld. The recent victim seems to be singer, Arijit Singh. According to reports, underworld don, Ravi Pujari, has threatened Arijit Singh and asked him to pay Rs 5 crore. The underworld don has also asked the singer to perform at two stage shows for him free of cost. Sources have been quoted in the report as saying that Arijit has filed a written complaint in Mumbai’s Oshiwara Police station. However, the singer has reportedly refused to file an FIR against Ravi Pujari. He has also denied police protection.

While Arijit has refused to get any police protection, the security standard of the industry biggies was recently beefed up. Read on to know why...

Following threats from gangster Ravi Pujari, as reported, the security of Bollywood's bigwigs, including actors Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, director Raju Hirani and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, was beefed up. However, the Mumbai crime branch has now recommended to downgrade the security of the celebrities. The recommendation has come based on a recent audit it conducted on the security cover provided to various important personalities in the city, the report stated. In 2014, the agency had provided security cover to SRK, Aamir Khan and director Farah Khan after three men, allegedly the members of Pujari's gang, fired three rounds outside producer Ali Morani's residence in Bandra. The report quoted a senior police officer saying that the decision of relaxing their security has been arrived upon after their audit showed that there is no imminent threat perception to the celebs. Further to the report, the suggestion of downgrading the security has been sent to Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria.

Read further to know about the threat to filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt...

The Mumbai Police foiled an underworld plan to harm filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt with the arrest of 13 persons belonging to a gang operated by an overseas kingpin, reports Mumbai Mirror. They also managed to nab the people allegedly involved in the firing outside film producer Karim Morani's house in August this year. One of the arrested had even befriended the watchman at Bhatt's house and managed to secure a job, the report further states. On November 15, 2014, police rounded up seven people from Khar and seized three pistols and 15 bullets from them.Their interrogation revealed that they had been directed by an overseas gangster to attack Bhatt and leave no chance of escape, reports the paper. The gang comprised of three persons who did recce of Bhatt's house and three persons who were supposed to be the hit squad. The three persons among the arrested had received Rs 11 lakh from abroad through hawala to execute the job, said Joint Commissioner of Police Sadanand Date to Mumbai Mirror.

Shah Rukh Khan received threats from the underworld several times. The Mumbai police had confirmed that security for Shah Rukh Khan was beefed up following threats from the underworld around the release of Happy New Year. It is said that four rounds were fired outside producer Karim Morani's Juhu. Reports suggested a note was found at the site of the shooting that said, 'SRK will be the next target.' However, this is not the first time that the actor has been threatened by the underworld. In an interview, SRK had said that he was approached by producer Nazim Rizvi and film financier Bharat Shah in 1998 to do their film. However, the actor refused them. Six months later Rizvi approached him again and said the dreaded don Chhota Shakeel had sent him to meet the actor and that the latter wanted to speak to him. Speaking to TOI, SRK said that that they dialed a number and he spoke to a man who identified himself as Shakeel and asked him to work in Rizvi’s film. SRK said, “I was scared and told Shakeel that I would first listen to the story and decide." SRK added that he used to receive threatening calls on his mobile from Abu Salem forcing him to work in his movie.

Just days after Shah Rukh Khan received an alleged threat from the underworld, reports emerged that his Happy New Year co-star Boman Irani too got a threat call from underworld don Ravi Pujari. Quoting a senior police officer, a PTI report said, “Boman Irani has received threat call from Pujari and we have provided him security. We are investigating the case.” Boman's movie Happy New Year, in which he co-starred with Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Deepika Padukone, released in October 2014.

Just three days after Boman Irani got a threat call from don Ravi Pujari, Sonu Sood too received a similar threat from the underworld. Sonu Sood, who played an important part in Farah Khan's Happy New Year, is the fourth member of the film who has received such threat. Before him, Shah Rukh Khan and Boman Irani were threatened by Pujari. As a result of these calls, Sonu Sood was reportedly given police protection.

In what seemed like his worst nightmare, two gangsters allegedly opened fire inside Bollywood producer Ali Morani's house one Saturday night. A report says that the producer had received extortion calls from underworld don Ravi Pujari a week before the firing. However, he did not take the threats seriously. Quoting sources, the mid-day report added that two shooters, allegedly from Ravi Pujari's gang, entered Morani's house in Juhu, Mumbai, and fired five rounds. Luckily no one was injured in the incident. It seems the intention was not to kill or hurt anyone but just warn Morani.

Bollywood’s Dabangg actor Salman Khan too was not spared from threats by the underworld. In 2002, the actor had informed the Mumbai police that he had received threats from the underworld and sought fresh arms licence from them. Though the actor did not disclose the identity of the caller, he requested the police to issue him a fresh licence for arms that were confiscated from him due to the court’s directive in the black buck poaching case. In fact a TOI report in February 2014 said that Salman received extortion calls from fugitive don Ravi Pujari and the matter was reported to the Crime Branch.

Filmmaker Rajiv Rai, who has made several blockbuster hits like Tridev, Mohra and Gupt, had left India after an attempt was made on his life by the underworld in 1997. He is married to actress Sonam and the couple have a son. A TOI report says that after staying in Switzerland for a while, the couple moved to America and Sonam was spotted in Los Angeles at private film screenings. However, it has been revealed that Rajiv and his family are right here in Mumbai and they have relocated back to their homeland for quite some time.

Three days after Nusli Wadia, father of Ness Wadia, filed a complaint that they allegedly received a call from the underworld, reports suggested that Wadias claim they got four more calls. Sources revealed that Wadias lodged a fresh complaint with the police saying they had got four more calls from the same number. The calls allegedly asked them not to harass actress Preity Zinta. Security was provided to Wadias and two of their staff members. Quoting police commissioner Rakesh Maria, a TOI report said the number from which the threat was issued was from Iran and that the call was made using VOIP (voice over internet protocol, a technology that allows calls over the internet).

Akshay Kumar had received death threats over the phone from a man who claimed to be fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari. Quoting a crime branch officer, a PTI report said that the caller threatened Akshay and talked about a domestic help, who was sacked by the actor a few days ago. The caller identified himself as gangster Ravi Pujari, and he told the actor that he made a huge mistake by sacking his domestic help. First he didn’t take these threats seriously. However, after getting the threat calls for almost two years he made a complaint at the Juhu police station and was provided with round-the-clock security cover. Though the police later suspected that it was not a call from the underworld.

Actor-cum-politician Govinda was receiving life-threatening calls from the underworld in 2006, his brother had alleged. The actor was receiving threats along with his family and the actor had informed the police and union Home Ministry about the same. Though he had not revealed if the he was getting threats from Dawood Ibrahim, he said that even the high command of Congress party were informed about the same. The threats were taken seriously and the actor was provided with extra security.

Playback singer Sonu Nigam, who has also acted in several Bollywood films, had alleged that he got threatened by the underworld to cancel his deal with an event management company and sign up with another, supposedly chosen by them. Quoting the singer, a PTI report had said that Sonu complained to the police that he has been getting a number of threatening phone calls and text messages from Chhota Shakeel, a close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. He alleged that Shakeel was trying to force him to cancel a contract with an event management company and sign up with another firm chosen by the don. These are not the only celebrities who received threats from the underworld. Filmakers Karan Johar, Boney Kapoor and Farhan Aktar too have received threats from the dreaded underworld.