A wannabe singer crooning on stage whips out a gun and pumps bullets into one of the judges of the contest. This is no tall story, but an actual plot to do away with singer-actor-contest judge Himesh Reshammiya who’s stock in Bollywood has shot up in recent times.

A Special Task Force team of Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday nabbed from Haohari village of Dewa in Barabanki (some 30 kilometers from Lucknow), four members of the Eizaz Lakdawala gang who were part of a mission to do away Reshammiya and producer-director Raj Kumar Santoshi.

After the initial plan to get in a contestant on the singing contest judged by Reshammiya failed (as the warbler was eliminated in the initial rounds) the four had been dispatched to the State to collect arms and recruit sharp shooters.

The arrested have been identified as Anees Radiowala, Mohammed Rahim Khan, Ishrat Warsi and Namdev.
“We were told we would be delivered the arms in Barabanki and had been given Rs 50,000 for the task. We had to take the weapons and deliver them to someone in Mumbai. They were intended for Reshammiya and Santoshi”, Radiowala, who claims to be from Oshiwara, told the media.

“We had information about Lakdawala looking to recruit shooters from the State and had since stepped up electronic surveillance and tightened our network,” Singh said. Lakdawala had worked with Dawood Ibrahim, Abu Salem and Chotta Rajan before branching out on his own.