‘I told Mahesh Bhatt to warn Gulshan Kumar, you will be shot’: Rakesh Maria got tip months before T-Series boss was killed

The informant then told Maria that Abu Salem is orchestrating Gulshan’s killing, and he’d be shot dead once he visits the Shiva temple that he visits every day. “It must’ve been around 2-3 am. I couldn’t sleep. My wife saw me sitting after the call. And she was used to all that happening. She said, ‘Why don’t you inform someone?’ I said, ‘Yes, I will,'” Maria said on Raj Shamani’s podcast.

In the morning around 6:30-7 am, Rakesh called up Mahesh Bhatt, filmmaker who had directed hit romantic dramas for Gulshan’s T-Series, like Aashiqui (1990) and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991). “I said, ‘You tell him not to leave his house. Just ask him if he goes to a Shiva mandir. I’m speaking to the Crime branch. Some protection would be provided to him,'” recalled Maria.

“So, protection was provided to him. Then I forgot about it, till August (1997), when I get to know that Gulshan Kumar has been shot outside the Shiva mandir. I was shocked. I thought, ‘How did this happen? Protection was provided to him.’ Then information came to me that Mumbai Police had given him protection, but he had a huge factory in Noida. So, Uttar Pradesh Police had provided him a big contingent of guards. So, they were there with him. Over a period of time, people feel it’s been so many months that the information was given, but nothing has happened yet. So, the lethargy sets in. Sloth sets in,” explained Maria.

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He added that since it was a festival around that time, Gulshan thought he was safe so he asked his bodyguards to take leave. “So, he went out. A car came, and he was killed there,” said Maria. Later, Mumbai Police claimed during their investigation that out of a personal dispute, Nadeem Saifi of the music composer duo Nadeem-Shravan (of Aashiqui-fame) had paid Abu Salem, an associate of D-Company founder Dawood Ibrahim, to assassinate Gulshan. But the underworld organization already had plans to murder Gulshan because he refused to pay Rs 10 crore as extortion.