For some time, the stars of Bollywood and digital world have been continuously targeted by gangsters. Sometimes firing on Salman Khan’s Galaxy apartment in Bandra, Mumbai, sometimes a bullet on Kapil Sharma’s café in Canada, and now an attack on Elvish Yadav’s house in Gurgaon. Every time the name of a gang comes out, the statements taking responsibility on social media are viral and the police has to increase security. The question is, why are gangsters behind these famous celebrities? Is this just a game of recovery, or the new weapon of fame and publicity?
Firing at superstar Salman Khan’s house in April 2024, Famous comedian Kapil Sharma’s firing at Canada in August 2025 and now firing at Elvish Yadav’s house in Gurugram on 17 August 2025. In every case, gangs who took responsibility on social media came out. After which the police increased the security of celebrities and registered an FIR. All these incidents raised the question as to why the focus of gangsters on these celebs?
Firing on galaxy apartment
On 14–15 April 2024, there was a firing outside Salman Khan’s house in Bandra, Mumbai. Initial investigation named Lawrence Bishnoi network and two accused were arrested. Later, many members of the same gang were booked for conspiracy, some were also accused of Reiki. The news of the arrest of a shooter in October 2024 also came to light. Some accused got bail in the court, but the case is going on. This incident became the ‘template’ of the coming months.
Openly threats and gang’s propaganda
After firing on Kapil Sharma’s café, the names associated with the Bishnoi group threatened the film industry in the audio and post- ‘The one who will work with Salman will not be released… will spoil the atmosphere of Mumbai … AK-47 will be used.’ Such threats not only spread fear, but also give air to the “brand value” and recruitment, extortion ecosystem of the gang. Police and intelligence agencies included these clips and posts in the investigation.
Firing on Kapil Sharma’s cafe in Canada
In July -August 2025, the café of Kapil Sharma, who was present in Surrey city of Canada, fired twice a month. There is no news of anyone being injured, but in the social media post, there was a threat of ‘next target’ in Mumbai. After this, the Mumbai Police increased the security of Kapil and investigated the dangers directly. Protocols were also tightened on shooting schedule and live events in the entertainment industry.
Firing at Elvish Yadav’s house
The latest case is from 17 August 2025. When the bike riding miscreants fired more than 10–24 rounds at Elvish Yadav’s house in Sector-57, Gurgaon. The entire attack incident was captured in the CCTV cameras installed there. Elvish was not at his house at that time. There was no loss of life and property, but the walls and windows of the house were damaged. A gang claimed to take responsibility for this attack on social media and accused it like ‘Betting App Promotion’. The police have registered an FIR and the claims are being investigated.
Lawrence gang terror
The name of the notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang is coming forward again and again in these attacks. This gang is targeting not only Salman Khan, but also people close to him. The purpose of the gang is being said to spread fear and collect ransom. The Bishnoi gang has access to India as well as Canada, where attacks on Punjabi artists are increasing.
Increasing attacks on Punjabi artists
The killing of Punjabi music industry superstar Sidhu Mosewala in 2022 shook the entire country. About two dozen bullets were fired on his car, behind which the name of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang came. In September 2024, Punjabi singer AP Dhillon’s firing was firing outside Canada’s house, which was taken by Rohit Godara of this gang. The purpose of these attacks is believed to be intimidating Salman Khan’s close ones.
What does the pattern say?
High-liberality incidents of firing or threats on celebrities do PR and campaigning for any gang. Low resources have large -bearing headlines. In the past years, the police noted that the Mumbai-style extortion trend has increased in the Delhi-Punjab-Haryana belt. The big name is targeted and pressurized on small and medium traders. This is an updated version of the old Mumbai-underworld playbook, where social media has become amplifier.
Old hatred, resentment and recovery
In the Salman Khan case, the religious-symbolic angle of the black deer dispute of the Bishnoi sect was repeatedly thrown. At the same time, lines like ‘who supported the one who supported the target’ in threats gives expansion to gang-ecosystem. The alleged ‘betting app’ was added to the Elvish Yadav case. These are sometimes formed ‘justification’, which makes public simpathy distribution and gang’s propaganda viral. The real game is often a mixture of money, dominance and digital rich.
Police strategy
Many arrests and bail updates came to Salman Khan’s house in the case of firing. Some shooter and logistics handlers were caught. In the Kapil Sharma case, the Mumbai Police strengthened the local counter-makers and coordination, while separate investigation is going on in Canada. In the case of Elvish Yadav, the Gurgaon Police has registered an FIR in the IPC and Arms Act and focused on CCTV, ballistics and cyber tracing. Safety and travel-plans have been made based on the threat assessment for celebrities.
Why are gangsters behind?
1. High-Impact Publicity: When a big film star or famous personality is targeted, that news comes in the headlines across the country. The news of a small attack or threat also goes viral on TV channels and social media immediately. This gives gangsters “free publicity”, which they have to do anything else to get. His identity and name suddenly falls on the tongue of the people.
2. Extortion funnel: The purpose of the gang is often recovery. Small traders, builders or businessmen get scared even more quickly by attacking a big name. They feel that if the celebrity is not safe then what is their board. In such a situation, they start giving money to the gang without protest. That is, by targeting a star, the path of easy earning is made by spreading fear in the rest of the society.
3. Social media era: In today’s time, a threatening audio, video or post reaches millions of people in the blink of an eye. Gangsters take advantage of this. After an incident, he takes responsibility on social media and the atmosphere of fear becomes bigger. This makes their network strong and also sends the message of their grip on other criminals.
4. Diaspora-Linked Gang: Many big gangsters sit abroad and commit crimes in India. Whether it is Canada, America or Dubai. On operating from there, it becomes difficult for the police to take direct action. Law and investigation process of different countries is prolonged. Because of this, these gangs keep playing a game of fear and violence from safe distance by ordering their people sitting in India.
5. Old hatred and enmity: In some cases, a dispute or religious-physical issue is already added against celebrities. For example, the issue of ‘black deer hunting’ in the Salman Khan case was raised repeatedly. With this, gangsters want to show that their attack is for some purpose. But in reality it is a trick to affect the crowd and make their gang known. This mixture means that the promotion of old controversies, social media and threats make these attacks a more benefit in the threat.
Now what next?
For standard threats for the entertainment world, SOP (Standard Threat Sop’s), such as Reiki-proofing, travel route obfusation, live event entry-cutol and digital monitoring are necessary. Threatening social media platforms-fast technology down and law enforcement agency will have to accelerate data access. Dont amplifying and threats should also be reported for fans. This method can break the ‘Reach Economy’ of Gang-Propaganda.
—- End —-