Mumbai:
For five days, Room No. 201 in a modest hotel in Mumbai's Andheri East locality played host to two men who opened fire at Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff. The room cost approximately Rs 1,500 a day, and the men staying there had identified themselves as residents of Haryana's Hisar, concealing their identities while preparing for the attack.
Phool Singh and Rehan Singh, the two shooters, checked into the hotel on the morning of October 14, arriving between 11 am and 11:30 am. They remained there until the afternoon of October 18, when they checked out between 4 pm and 4:30 pm, shortly before the firing incident in Mumbai's Juhu area. They never returned to the hotel.
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According to sources, the men would leave the hotel each day in an auto-rickshaw to conduct reconnaissance, examining locations and making preparations for the attack. The police are also examining an incident in which a pistol supplied to the group was being tested at the hideout when a round misfired, although the men allegedly managed to conceal what had happened.
The hotel staff learnt about the episode only when the police arrived on October 20, two days after the alleged shooters had checked out.
Three men accused of carrying out the attack were arrested in Rajasthan's Kota earlier this week as they allegedly planned to flee to Nepal. The Kota city police arrested them from a train on Monday before handing them over to the Mumbai Police.
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The accused were brought to Mumbai early on Wednesday and formally arrested before being produced in a magistrate's court. The three have been identified as Rehan alias Sukka, 18, from Sonipat in Haryana; Ritik Kurmi alias Roshan, 22, originally from Begusarai in Bihar and living in Mumbai; and Phool Singh, 18, from Haryana.
The shooting took place in Mumbai's Juhu area on Sunday evening, when at least two men opened fire at Shroff's car before escaping on a motorcycle.
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The actor escaped relatively unhurt, but his driver and a bystander sustained injuries. According to the Mumbai Police, five to six rounds were fired at the vehicle.
A motorcycle believed to have been used by the attackers was later found abandoned in Andheri.
The police have registered a case under provisions relating to attempt to murder and the Arms Act.