Had Salim Wastik’s considerable good luck finally not run out on April 24, he may have had a Bollywood film made on him.The man who kidnapped and killed a 13-year-old boy in 1995 and then hid in plain sight as an “ex-Muslim” provocateur on YouTube, had been approached by a Bollywood film director who wanted to make a biopic on his life, police sources told The Indian Express.The director had apparently offered him Rs 15 lakh as signing amount and had begun talks on the film.Unfortunately for Wastik however, the Delhi Police Special Cell barged in on the plan – and ruined it for both him and the director.Wastik was arrested from his home in Loni, Ghaziabad, four days ago and has since been returned to Tihar Jail, where he was until he came out on bail and vanished 26 years ago.He changed his name – became Salim Ahmed from Salim Khan, and finally Salim Wastik – and after having ensured he was “dead” in official records, gave himself a new life on the Internet.There, he posted content attacking Islam, and quickly gained a viewership. He also attracted criticism – and two of his critics were apparently angered enough to break into his home and slash him with a razor.Story continues below this adUttar Pradesh Police described these attackers as “fanatics”, and within days shot both men – brother Zeeshan and Gulfam – dead in separate night-time encounters in Ghaziabad.All this happened between February 27 and March 3. And then – less than two months later – a dramatic backstory was revealed.Delhi Police revealed on April 25 that “ex-Muslim” Salim Wastik was in fact a kung fu instructor who had been convicted and sentenced to life in jail for murder in 1997, and who had, during the pendency of his appeal against the conviction, jumped bail in 2000. In 2011, his conviction was upheld – but no one knew where he was at that time, or even whether he was alive.After he was rearrested, Wastik is learned to have told interrogators that a Bollywood director had approached him for a biopic based on his life, including his transformation into a YouTuber identifying as an “ex-Muslim”, and his survival after the alleged attack by the two brothers, who were later killed in a police encounter in Uttar Pradesh.Story continues below this adThe film would apparently have shown his current lifestyle, including the security provided to him by the Uttar Pradesh Police due to the threats to his life.It may be assumed that this planned reel story would have stayed clear of the real story of Salim’s life from three decades ago. Wastik is learned to have told police that he had revealed nothing of that story to the purported Bollywood director.The Indian Express has reported earlier that Wastik – who identified himself as Salim Khan back then – had learned Shaolin kung fu at a martial arts school in Shamli, then a part of Western UP’s Muzaffarnagar district, and landed himself a job as a physical instructor at a well known school in East Delhi. There, he, along with an accomplice, had kidnapped the 13-year-old boy and demanded a ransom of Rs 30,000. But he ended up allegedly killing the boy and dumping the body in a drain before any money to exchange hands.After jumping bail in 2000, Wastik spent nearly 10 years in Haryana before eventually settling in Loni under a new identity.Story continues below this adRecently, while reviewing old unsolved cases – a practice that police follow periodically – the Delhi Police Crime Branch reopened his file. They visited Nannupura Mohalla, Salim’s hometown in Shamli, where his relatives claimed he was dead.Then, police received a tip-off that the man who was attacked in Loni could be someone they knew already. “It was initially dismissed,” a police officer said. But the police did look closely – including at a martial arts ID card linked to the kung fu training he had obtained in Shamli.They looked at his pictures – and noticed that while looked slimmer in his old photo, his father’s name (Noor Hasan), and wife’s name (Afsana) were the same as the ones he had submitted while getting his Aadhaar in 2015.Police also noted that in his YouTube videos, Wastik frequently referred to kung fu. They started tracking Salim, and ultimately established his identity after matching his fingerprints with Salim Khan’s bail records, leading to his arrest.Story continues below this adThe local police are expected to seek Wastik’s custody soon to interrogate him on his evasion of arrest after jumping interim bail.