Dawn Images

A member of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s group has issued a threat to actors, producers and directors against working with Bollywood star Salman Khan, a day after shots were fired outside Kapil Sharma’s café in Canada.

In an audio clip shared by India Today circulating online, a man identifying himself as Harry Boxer claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened that “any producer, director or actor who works with Salman Khan will be shot.”

He added that the gang would go to any length to “kill small-time producers, directors and actors” who collaborate with the Sultan actor, warning that “anyone who works with him will be responsible for their own life.”

The incident took place outside Sharma’s newly opened Kap’s Café in Surrey on Thursday — the second such shooting at the establishment in less than a month. No injuries were reported, though the building sustained multiple bullet holes.

The earlier attack occurred on July 10. The threats come after Khan appeared in the inaugural episode of the third season of Sharma’s Netflix show, which premiered on June 21. The Bishnoi gang has repeatedly issued warnings to Khan, who has been on their radar since his 1998 blackbuck hunting case during the filming of Hum Saath Saath Hain.

The Bishnoi community considers blackbucks sacred. Khan has been under high security since an April 2024 firing incident outside his Mumbai residence. Two members of the Bishnoi gang were arrested in the case.

Boxer, a native of Rajasthan with two criminal cases against him in the state, reportedly immigrated illegally to the US in 2014 and became associated with Bishnoi’s gang, reported NDTV. He is said to maintain contact with Bishnoi’s brother, Anmol Bishnoi, and to handle parts of the gang’s US operations, including alleged extortion calls to India.

Following Thursday’s shooting, Kap’s Café posted a statement on Ins,tagram according to NDTV, saying they were “processing the shock” but “not giving up.” That statement is no longer available on their page.

“We opened Kap’s Café with hopes of bringing warmth, community, and joy through delicious coffee and friendly conversation. To have violence intersect with that dream is heartbreaking,” it reportedly read.

Another claim of responsibility came from Harjeet Singh Laddi, also known as Laddi Khalistani, an operative of the banned terror group Babbar Khalsa International, who said the attack was in response to remarks about Nihang Sikhs’ attire made on Sharma’s show.

The recent violence has added to growing calls in Canada to designate the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a ‘terrorist organisation’, following a spate of murders and extortion-related crimes linked to the group in the country.