Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff was allegedly targeted at the behest of Lawrence Bishnoi gang member Anil Pandit, the Mumbai Police told a court on Wednesday. The probe into the firing incident widened with the arrest of five more persons.
Three key accused allegedly involved in the shooting were brought to Mumbai from Kota in Rajasthan on Wednesday morning and remanded in police custody till October 31 by a magistrate court.
The crime branch produced Rehan alias Sukka, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana; Ritik Kurmi alias Roshan, originally from Begusarai in Bihar and currently residing in Mumbai; and Phool Singh, also from Haryana, before the court and sought their custody for 14 days.
The police told the court that the attack was allegedly carried out on the directions of Pandit, an alleged associate of the Bishnoi gang, and that further investigation was required to establish the conspiracy and motive behind the incident.
Investigators said they needed to recover the firearms used in the crime, collect electronic evidence, including call detail records, and ascertain the circumstances under which two mobile phones allegedly used by the accused were destroyed.
The accused were arrested following an analysis of CCTV footage and tracking of the motorcycle allegedly used by the shooters, the police said.
Opposing the police remand, defence lawyers Ajinkya Mirgal and Satyabrat Joshi argued that custody was not necessary for the recovery of weapons and pointed out that the accused had already been interrogated during their transit remand.
After hearing both sides, the court remanded the three accused to police custody till October 31.
Shroff escaped relatively unhurt after two assailants fired gunshots at his car in Mumbai’s Juhu area on Sunday evening. His driver and a bystander were injured in the incident.
A motorcycle allegedly used by the shooters was later found abandoned in Andheri, while the three accused were apprehended from a train in Kota the following day.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police Raj Tilak Roshan said five more persons, including two women, had been apprehended in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and were being brought to Mumbai.
Sustained technical analysis and interrogation had led the crime branch to a wider syndicate allegedly responsible for procuring and supplying the firearms used in the shooting, he said.
Acting on specific intelligence and with coordinated assistance from the Delhi and Haryana police, investigators conducted simultaneous raids to apprehend the suspects, Roshan said at a news conference.
Delhi Police identified four of the arrested accused as Kunal (21) and Sumit (19), both residents of Haryana's Sonipat district, and Radha (23) and Babita (23), both from Uttar Pradesh.
Roshan said investigators were unravelling a deeply coordinated conspiracy.
According to the Delhi Police, Kunal allegedly collected a pistol and 20 rounds from Amritsar on the instructions of Anil Pandit, a 32-year-old US-based gangster from Panipat and an alleged associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Sumit had accompanied him, while Radha and Babita allegedly travelled to Mumbai with the weapon.
The Anti-Extortion Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch is investigating the case. An FIR was registered at Juhu police station.
Meanwhile, vlogger Umesh Chauhan, who was injured when shots were fired at Shroff's car, underwent surgery at the civic-run KEM Hospital on Wednesday to remove the bullet, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
Chauhan’s vital parameters were stable after the surgery, and he remained under observation, the civic body said in a statement.