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Chhota tip-off triggers big panic on SRK b'day

MUMBAI: Even as Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan was celebrating his 45th birthday in Berlin with his family and close friends, a different sort of drama was unfolding at his bungalow, Mannat, at Bandra Bandstand. The sprawling bungalow became a virtual fortress on Tuesday afternoon, with police personnel cordoning off the area leading to it, following an alert that one of the visitors there would be attacked. All hell broke loose and senior police officers and crime branch teams swooped down and began examining the bouquets and gifts sent to Khan for explosives. They also got police personnel to check the vehicles on the roads. The frenzy began with a call received by the control room at 2.30pm. The caller told the police that ``gutka baron Joshi'' was going to be killed at Mannat and that his murder had been ordered by gangster Chhota Shakeel. The caller added, for good measure, that the shooters were already working on the plan. Alarmed, the cops sprang into action and began making enquiries about Joshi's connections with Khan. Many calls later, they discovered that the Joshi referred to was Sachin Joshi, son of `Goa Gutka' owner J M Joshi, who is also in his father's business. J M Joshi, along with Rasiklal Dhariwal of the Manikchand group, is facing a CBI probe for allegedly helping gangster Dawood Ibrahim set up a gutka-manufacturing unit in Pakistan. Police sources say the cops found it hard to believe that Shakeel, an ally of Dawood, would target Joshi. ``However, we didn't want to take any chances because the action was to happen at Mannat,'' a police officer said. Sachin had reportedly been in touch with Khan and had met him on a few occasions to discuss ``business plans''. ``We expected Sachin would drop in to meet the actor's staff to pursue this and perhaps convey his birthday greeting,'' a police officer said. The police alerted the actor's staff not to accept gifts and bouquets from strangers and also directed those had already collected outside the house to leave. Interestingly, Sachin was unaware of the huge drama surrounding him and came to know of it only when the police called him and asked to be careful. ``He was busy in a meeting at Powai when we informed him,'' a police officer said. The operation was called off around 5.30pm after the officers failed to make any headway. Predictably enough, a police officer later said, ``the investigations are on''.

                                                                                                               
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