Mumbai:
A wrought-iron gate stood between him and his favourite actor Tiger Shroff. Standing outside the football club in Mumbai's Juhu, he saw Shroff walking off the pitch and getting into his BMW. Shroff stopped to wave at his fans before getting inside the car. He recorded every moment. "Aa rahe hai Tiger sir. Aap ko main dikhata hu dosto (Tiger sir is coming. Let me show him to you, friends)," he said as his mobile camera followed the car heading out of the ground. And then came a loud "boom", followed by three more. Shots were fired, literally, at Tiger Shroff in an assassination bid. A bullet hit his fan, Umesh Chauhan.
NDTV has accessed a 48-second clip recorded by Chauhan, showing the moments before Shroff was targeted allegedly by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang for his connections with Salman Khan.
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The video begins with Shroff walking towards his car and waving at people standing outside the football ground, calling out his name. He stopped outside the car to pose for a photograph with a fan. "Hello, Tiger Sir, hello," a man is heard calling out in the background.
The video zooms in on Shroff getting into his BMW.
"Tiger sir apni gaadi me baithne jaa rahe hai. Ye dekhiye dosto. Ye hai dosto unko BMW gaadi hai sir ka...Aur sir ab aa rahe hai. Ye gaadi hai aur yaha par kaafi bheed laga hua hai. Main bhi yahi par hu (Tiger sir is about to get into his car. Take a look, friends! This is his BMW... And here he comes now. This is the car, and there's quite a crowd gathered here. I'm here too)," Chauhan described the scene as Shroff proceeded to drive out.
The security guard is seen asking fans to make way for the car. Shroff is seen sitting in the front passenger seat of the car, next to the driver. He continues to wave at his fans. Just as the car exits the ground, shots are fired in succession.
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Shroff escaped unhurt, but his driver, Firdos Ibrahim Baloch, and Chauhan suffered injuries. In another video from the incident site, Shroff is seen jumping into the driver's seat and taking control of the wheel, rushing Baloch to Nanavati Hospital.
Chauhan was taken to King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, a government-run facility in Mumbai. According to Chauhan's family, a bullet is still lodged in his chest. The relatives have alleged that Chauhan is not receiving proper medical care at KEM Hospital and have requested Shroff to help shift his fan to a private facility.
Chauhan's financial situation is dire. His wife is nine months pregnant, and she has not yet been informed about the incident.
Chauhan, a vlogger and a devoted fan of Shroff, would visit Pushpa Park every Sunday to see him.
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Investigation So Far
Tiger Shroff was attacked on Sunday evening while returning home from a football ground in Juhu. Two men opened fire, while a third person, their accomplice, waited metres away on his motorcycle. After firing seven rounds targeting Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff, the three men fled on a bike, which they abandoned near Andheri West railway station before boarding a train towards Borivali and then the Pune-Jaipur Express.
READ | Tiger Shroff Was Shot At In Mumbai. Hours Later, Suspects Spotted In Surat
The three men - 22-year-old Hritik alias Roshan, from Begusarai in Bihar; Rehan (18), from Sonipat in Haryana; and Phool Singh (18), also from Haryana -- were intercepted on Monday morning in Rajasthan's Kota while they were on a train and headed to Delhi. According to the police, the three men wanted to flee to Nepal.
(With inputs from Ruttik Ganakwar)