Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 19: A Rapido driver, a labourer, and a minor are believed to have opened fire at the Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff, the son of the noted actor of the 80’s Jackie Shroff, when he was leaving a football club in Juhu area in Mumbai on Sunday night.
All the three were arrested from a train Pune – Jaipur Superfast Express, at Kota station in Rajasthan on Monday morning. Kota Superintendent of Police (SP) Tejaswani Gautam said at a press conference that one of the accused was in touch with Anil Pandit, an alleged associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which claimed responsibility for the attack on Tiger Shroff through an unverified social media post.
The police said the accused were headed to Delhi and their ultimate plan was to flee to Nepal. The three accused received Rs 50,000 collectively as advance to carry out the attack, according to police sources. Investigators are questioning the accused to establish their individual roles and determine whether all three were directly involved in the shooting.
The 36-year-old actor, wearing a muscle tee and seated in the front, was waving at his fans through the rolled up car windows, when the shots rang out. A man in front, holding up a gun supported by both hands, fired at the car, showed a video. Another man, wearing a cap, was seen firing from the side. A man on a bike was stationed right there and the three then fled on it, the video showed.
The attackers reportedly abandoned their motorcycle near Andheri West railway station before boarding a train towards Borivali. Police said three rounds were fired at the “War” actor. The actor escaped unhurt but his driver and another driver of an autorickshaw were injured in the incident, police said.
The three suspects were picked up by Kota city police at the railway station in an operation that lasted around 15 minutes. Two of the accused have been identified as Ritik alias Roshan from Begusarai in Bihar and Rehan from Haryana’s Sonipat. The third accused is a minor, SP Gautam said. Preliminary questioning revealed that Anil Pandit was in contact with Rehan, she said.
We covered the exit points, platforms and various other locations to apprehend the accused. It was the Pune-Jaipur Express. We received the information around 9:45 am. The Mumbai Police have arrived, and we will hand the accused over to them. Based on preliminary questioning, one of the accused is a Rapido rider. The other two, one of whom is a minor and the other, Rehan, work as labourers in Sonipat. Preliminary questioning revealed that they intended to travel to Delhi by this train and then escape to Nepal from there,” Kota Superintendent of Police Tejaswani Gautam told reporters.
The accused were travelling on the Pune-Jaipur train that reached Kota station at 10.17 a.m. Mumbai police shared inputs with Ms Gautam, who immediately alerted the district special team. She formed different teams. The train was searched thoroughly, and the three accused were caught in the general coach of the train, police said.
The messages and locations among the accused were being continuously shared through the Signal and Telegram apps, sources said. The police are yet to recover the firing weapon from the accused, who were travelling in a general comaprtment when they were caught. “The names of these three individuals are: Rehan, alias Sukka, from Sonipat, Haryana; Hritik Kurmi, alias Roshan, from Begusarai, Bihar, who had been residing in Mumbai, Maharashtra, for the past few years; and one minor. We have detained all three, and we will now hand them over to the Mumbai Police,” Ms Gautam said.
Anti-Gangster Task Force and Railway Protection Force personnel also assisted in the operation. The accused were brought to the SP office, where primary questioning was done, Ms Gautam said. The suspects told police that they boarded the train after “executing the crime.” They were planning to take a bus from Jaipur to Delhi and then cross the border to reach Nepal, the SP said. No weapon was recovered from the suspects, she added. “A team from Mumbai Police has reached Kota and the suspects are being handed over to them,” she said.
Earlier on Monday, the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he had spoken to Mr Shroff and assured him that the incident would be taken seriously. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met Mr Shroff at his residence in Mumbai’s Bandra late Sunday night, enquired about the 36-year-old actor’s health and reassured his family of full security.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Mr Shroff, Mr Shinde said the time had come to uproot criminal networks once again, referring to the crackdown on gangs in the 1990s. “It will be tit for tat, bullets for bullets,” he said. Mumbai Police registered a case of attempt to murder in connection with the incident and it was later transferred to the Crime Branch.
Born Jai Hemant Shroff on March 2, 1990, Shroff is one of Bollywood’s premier action stars and martial artists, holding a 5th-degree black belt in Taekwondo. He debuted with the film “Heropanti” in 2014 and cemented his status as an action hero with films like “Baaghi”, “Baaghi 2” and the YRF Spy Universe hit “War.”