Mumbai:
Actor Tiger Shroff escaped unhurt after three men riding a motorcycle opened fire in Mumbai's Juhu area on Sunday evening, injuring his driver in the hand. An audio file that emerged after the incident featured a man claiming to represent the Lawrence Bishnoi gang taking responsibility for the attack and threatening others in the Mumbai film industry who work with Salman Khan.
In the audio file, a man identifying himself as Anil Pandit claimed that Tiger Shroff had been targeted because he had ignored the gang's directions and continued working with Salman Khan, who has repeatedly been threatened by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
"Anyone in the film industry who works separately from us, or works with Salman Khan, we will kill him. And this is the first and last warning. This Salman Khan is Dawood's (Ibrahim) dog, and we have kept a dog named Dawood at home," the man can be heard saying in the audio note.
"We had called him and explained it to him but he did not understand, so today we explained it to him properly," the message added.
According to sources, three men riding a motorcycle were involved in the shooting in Juhu on Sunday evening. Tiger Shroff was reportedly leaving a football ground when the incident took place. The actor escaped without injury, but his driver was shot in the hand. The circumstances surrounding the shooting, including the identities and motive of the attackers, remain under investigation.
Lawrence Bishnoi, who is currently lodged in a jail in Gujarat, has repeatedly threatened to kill Salman Khan. The actor has been at the centre of a series of threats attributed to the Bishnoi gang, which has also been linked to attempts to intimidate people associated with him.
"We will not spare anyone in your family, not even your pet dogs," the Bishnoi gang warned if Salman Khan does not apologise.
In 2023, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said that Khan topped the list of 10 main targets that the Bishnoi planned to eliminate, citing the actor's infamous 1998 blackbuck hunting incident, which according to the gangster, offended the Bishnoi community.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke to the Mumbai Police Commissioner to get details related to the firing incident. The Commissioner has been directed to expedite the investigation and initiate strict action against those responsible.