Fresh CCTV footage has surfaced, purportedly showing two suspects in the Tiger Shroff firing case hurriedly boarding the Pune-Jaipur Express at Gujarat’s Surat station hours after the attack in Mumbai, a Railway Police officer said.
The officer said on Monday that the suspects travelled by taxi to Surat, around 275 km from Mumbai, before boarding a Jaipur-bound train at approximately 1.30 am.
Abhay Soni, Superintendent of Police of the Western Railway’s Vadodara division, said the Gujarat Government Railway Police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) assisted in tracing the suspects in coordination with Mumbai police.
“Yes, we worked in coordination with the Mumbai police to trace the suspects (in the Tiger Shroff firing case who were later intercepted at Kota station in Rajasthan),” Soni said in a statement.
“CCTV footage of the (Surat) station, which was shared with the Maharashtra police, shows two of them running along a platform to board a general compartment of a moving Pune-Jaipur Superfast Express,” Soni noted.
Three people suspected of firing at actor Tiger Shroff were arrested from a train at Kota station on Monday in a swift 15-minute operation. They were allegedly travelling from Mumbai to Nepal.
Police identified two of the three suspects as Ritik alias Roshan, from Begusarai in Bihar, and Rehan, from Sonipat in Haryana. They were picked up from the general coach of the Pune-Jaipur Superfast Express during its halt at Kota station at 10.17 am, SP Tejaswani Gautam said.
Police have found a possible link between Rehan and an alleged associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as they investigate Sunday evening’s firing in Mumbai’s Juhu area.
Rehan was in touch with Anil Pandit, while the gang claimed responsibility for the incident in an unverified social media post. Addressing a press conference in Mumbai on Monday evening, Deputy Commissioner of Police Raj Tilak Roshan dismissed earlier reports that one of the three arrested suspects was a minor.
“One is 18 years old and the other two are 22 years old,” he said. “Five to six rounds were fired at Tiger Shroff’s car,” he said.
The shooting targeting the 36-year-old actor, son of veteran actor Jackie Shroff, took place on a busy Sunday evening and was captured on video. The footage showed gunshots being fired at close range at his car.
Shroff escaped relatively unhurt, while his driver and a bystander sustained injuries. A case was registered at Juhu police station under Sections 109(1) (attempt to murder) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), read with Sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act.
Acting on real-time intelligence shared with law enforcement agencies in other states, Mumbai Police coordinated with their counterparts in Kota, who intercepted the train at Kota junction and apprehended all three suspects shortly after its arrival.
Further investigation has been handed over to the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Crime Branch.
Roshan said police were also verifying social media claims in which Lawrence Bishnoi gang had purportedly taken responsibility for the shooting.
The shooting prompted opposition criticism and renewed concerns over celebrities’ safety, with Deputy CM Eknath Shinde vowing a tough response against criminal networks.