TV actor Abhinav Shukla and his family have received death threats from a man who claims to be associated with the notorious “Lawrence Bishnoi gang”. The threats stem from a recent spat between his wife, Rubina Dilaik, and Asim Riaz on reality show “Battleground”, where they both are panellists. The show has seen frequent clashes between the duo, which escalated after Asim allegedly made disrespectful on-camera remarks questioning Rubina’s credibility. Instagram user Ankush Gupta, who goes by the handle “ankushgupta8873”, has issued death threats to the actor.
Shukla addressed these threats, which also referred to the recent threats to Salman Khan, on his Twitter (now X) account. “Death threats to my family. The person seems to be from Chandigarh/Mohali. Please act firmly and promptly. To anyone who recognises the person, please report to DGP Punjab Police,” he wrote on the platform while sharing a screenshot of the text he received in his DM and shared a screen recording showing the Instagram profile of the person who issued the threat.
Death threat from ‘Lawrence Bishnoi gang member’
The threat, when translated to English, read, “I am a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. I know your address. Should I come and shoot you the same way there was firing at Salman Khan’s house? I will come to your place and shoot you with an AK-47. I know there are 15 people in your house, including your home guard.”
It further read, “I also know when you leave for work, and this is your final warning. Don’t talk rubbish about Asim, otherwise your name will be added to the list.”
He ended his message with the words: “Lawrence Bishnoi is with Asim.”
According to his Instagram profile, Gupta is a 26-year-old who works as a lab technician. As per his profile, which is now either deactivated or deleted, he is single and unmarried. The profile also pointed out that Gupta is based in Chandigarh.
He also shared other disturbing comments he received from several Instagram accounts. One of the comments stated that Asim Riyaz’s karma would reveal itself when something tragic happens to Shukla’s family.
As per a screenshot on social media, when a fan asked, “What is your reaction to Asim telling Rubina that this show is for fitness and asking, ‘What are you doing here?’,” he allegedly replied, “All jacked (syringe emoji) up muscle, no brain and bad attitude is not a sign of fitness!”
Other disturbing messages
One social media user responded to Shukla’s X post and said that Asim too received hundreds of death threats from Shukla’s fans, but he didn’t post any of them on social media to gain “sympathy”.
“I can show 100 threats that were given to Asim by your 175 fans. But he didn’t publish them to get sympathy. Bro i think you’re new to social media or never really understood it every person receives threat by unknown losers who doesn’t do shit but not everyone cry like you,” the user said.
Some stood in solidarity
Many people came out in support of Shukla, with one saying, “That’s how you deal with these trolls/bullies who are normalising threatening someone’s family over disagreement. Keep it up.”
“I request the police team to take strict action, and also for those who are commenting below the belt …keyboard power doesn’t give the right to give death threats to family… It’s high time police and authorities formulate some rules against these people,” commented another.