A senior police officer said, “The message stated that they will definitely kill the actor. It was sent to the traffic police’s helpline number, after which the matter was reported to us, and a case was registered.”

The Worli police said they began tracing the suspect through the call data records of a number obtained from traffic police.

“The suspect was then traced to his home in Vadodara. Our team was dispatched, and during investigation, his parents revealed that he is mentally unstable. However, we are still verifying their claims,” an officer said. A notice has been served as per provisions of law.

Police further added the suspect, identified as Mayank Pandya, claimed he was part of a WhatsApp group, in which one of the members shared news about gangster Lawrence Bishnoi threatening Khan. After seeing the news, he got the idea of threatening the actor.

Police said he obtained the Mumbai Police traffic department’s helpline number and sent a threat message for Khan.

Khan, who has been on gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s hit list over the 1998 blackbuck poaching case, has received multiple threats directly or indirectly through the Mumbai police in recent months.

After a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang opened fire outside Khan’s Bandra residence in April last year, Lawrence’s brother Anmol Bishnoi claimed responsibility for the attack. Lawrence Bishnoi is currently lodged in a Gujarat prison.

Later, the Mumbai police arrested over a dozen members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against them.

In November last year, the police arrested a Rajasthan man from Karnataka’s Hubballi for contacting the Mumbai traffic control helpline, posing as Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother. The man allegedly gave the actor two options to stay alive: either apologise at a temple or pay Rs 5 crore.