Salman house firing incident: Accused's post-mortem confirms hanging
Mumbai Police personnel stand guard outside GT Hospital where one of the accused, who allegedly opened fire outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan's residence, was brought after he attempted suicide in lock-up, in Mumbai
The post mortem report of Anuj Thapan, an accused in the April 14 firing incident outside the Bandra house of actor Salman Khan, confirmed he died of hanging as there are ligature marks on the neck and signs of asphyxia, a Mumbai police official said on Friday.
Thapan, who was held from Punjab along with his associate Sonu Bishnoi on April 26 and is accused of supplying firearms and bullets for the firing incident, was found dead in the lock-up of the Crime Branch in the commissionerate complex at Crawford Market on Wednesday. He had allegedly hanged himself with a bed sheet in the toilet of the lock-up, as per police. "The post mortem was conducted on Thursday evening in state-run JJ Hospital in Byculla. As per the report, there are ligature marks on the neck and signs of asphyxia, all of which confirm that he died of hanging," the police official said.
The doctors who conducted the post mortem have reserved their opinions, while the deceased's viscera, tissue and other samples have been preserved for forensic and chemical analysis and organs for histopathology, he informed. "Footage from the lock-up CCTV shows Thapan going into the toilet alone. It is a clear cut case of suicide," another official said.
Four persons, comprising Thapan, Sonu Bishnoi, shooters Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta, have been arrested in connection with the firing incident, while gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his brother Anmol Bishnoi have been shown as wanted accused, as per police.The state-run JJ hospital in south Mumbai on Thursday conducted a post-mortem on the body of Anuj Thapan, an accused in the firing outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s residence who allegedly hanged himself in police lock-up, an official said.
The post-mortem, which was videographed, was done in the presence of forensic doctors, he said. It started at 4.15 pm and was completed around 5.15 pm. The body has been kept in the morgue, the official said. The findings of the autopsy are yet to be disclosed. Earlier in the day, the post-mortem got delayed by several hours due to police and legal formalities, another official said.
Thapan (32) was accused of supplying weapons to the shooters who opened fire outside Khan's residence in Bandra on April 14 and arrested by the Mumbai crime branch. He allegedly hanged himself with a piece of a bedsheet on Wednesday in a toilet of the first-floor lock-up, located in the crime branch's building inside the police commissioner's office compound in south Mumbai. The body was shifted for a post-mortem at J J hospital on Wednesday evening. Since he died in police custody, an inquest has been ordered in the case, the official said.
Relatives of Thapan were on their way to Mumbai by train and would reach the city late in the evening, he said. The body was first taken for the post-mortem around 1.30 pm, but it was cancelled as the paperwork was incomplete. The body was shifted to the morgue, the official said. After some time, doctors demanded a letter from senior officials of the local police station, he said, adding that the post-mortem could start only around 4.15 pm due to this. 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, the duo 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. Lawrence, currently lodged in Sabarmati central prison in Ahmedabad, and his younger brother Anmol Bishnoi who is believed to be in the US or Canada, have been named in the firing case.
