'Rahul Gandhi Should Be Next Target of Lawrence Bishnoi': Row Over Odia Actor's Post

Odia film actor Buddhaditya Mohanty has stirred a political controversy with a social media post involving Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. In the post, Mohanty claimed that Bishnoi’s ‘next targets’ could be Rahul Gandhi and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. The statement shared on ‘X’ has faced significant backlash, prompting the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party, to file a police complaint against him. 

The actor wrote, "Germany had the Gestapo… Israel has the Mossad… USA has the CIA… now India has Lawrence Bishnoi… next in the list should be Owaisi and Rahul Gandhi.” 

After lodging the complaint against the Odia actor at the Capital police station on Friday, State NSUI president Udit Pradhan has sought action against Buddhaditya Mohanty for his now-deleted post.  

 "In the social media post, Mohanty claimed that after murdering NCP leader Baba Siddique, gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's next target should be Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. We cannot tolerate such a remark against our leader," Pradhan stated, reported PTI. 

NSUI also included a screenshot of the social media post with their complaint, and the police are currently investigating the matter. 

In response to the backlash, Mohanty publicly apologized on social media, stating that he did not intend to demean Rahul Gandhi in any way. 

In his apology, he wrote, “My last post regarding Rahul Gandhiji..was never to target..harm, demean him in any way..nor write anything against him..unintentionally if I affected anyone's sentiments..my intention was not this..I offer my sincere apologies..regards (sic).” 

This comes just days after NCP leader and three-time MLA Baba Siddique was shot dead in Bandra by three armed attackers, reportedly linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Siddique suffered three bullet wounds and was taken to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, where he died on October 12. 

The Lawrence Bishnoi gang later claimed responsibility for the murder in a social media post. One of the suspects arrested by the police said they targeted Siddique because of his alleged connections to crime boss Dawood Ibrahim and his close friendship with Bollywood actor Salman Khan, according to ANI.