Updated - The Great Khali Speaks On Shooting Incident
ORIGINAL REPORT: There was an incident yesterday in India involving The Great Khali's bodyguard shooting into a crowd as Khali was arriving at the home of a Deputy Speaker of the Punjab State Assembly. Khali had been invited to show up and was "besieged" by fans looking for autographs.
Reports say that Khali's bodyguard was "hostile" to the fans and started to shove at the crowd and physically attacked a boy. When others tried to intercede, the bodyguard pulled a gun and shot into the crowd.
Khali reportedly fled the scene, and there were said to be three "serious" injuries stemming from the incident.
UPDATED REPORT: The Times of India is reporting that only one person, not three, was reported injured in the shooting incident involving former WWE World champion The Great Khali yesterday. The crowd was said to be about 40 people, and Khali was accompanied by 15-bodyguards who reportedly fired nearly 40 bullets to scare away the crowd. The incident occurred near the house of Punjab Vidhan Sabha deputy speaker Sat Pal Gosain at 11.30 pm on Friday night, when Khali was leaving his host's house after dinner. Gosain said the crowd of fans went berserk when the wrestler was about to leave as they had been waiting their turn to get pictures clicked with him. ”Some distance away from our house his vehicle was stopped by some miscreants and one of them tried to snatch the weapon of one of the wrestler's guards, forcing the others to open fire to control the situation. One of the miscreants was injured.” The bullet hit the injured, identified as gurpreet singh alias shanty of mohar singh nagar, in his shoulder. A case under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 34 (common intention) IPC and Arms Act has been registered at division No 2 police station. ”We have registered the case on the complaint of Gauravjeet Singh alias Gora against the unidentified gunmen,” said Surinder Mohan, station house officer division number 2, police station. However, the complainant said, ”I am being threatened ever since I filed the complaint and am being pressurized to go in for a compromise.”
UPDATED REPORT x 2: TMZ.com has picked up the story with The Great Khali issuing a statement to them today. He "claims" that he was not there? "I am deeply saddened to hear of this incident and am disappointed it has been incorrectly reported that I was involved. I had left my friend's house a half an hour before the reported shooting took place and did not have any bodyguards with me. My thoughts and prayers go out to the people who were injured."
Note from Ryan Clark: For those unaware, Khali is a major celebrity/hero in India. Obviously, security over in that part of the world is much different than in Europe or the United States. Fans mob him over there wherever he goes. It often turns into a very dangerous & scary situation for him.