Delhi Police Special Cell officers on Wednesday claimed that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang used the dead letter box method to transport the pistol used to fire at Tiger Shroff’s car on October 18. The announcement came after Delhi police arrested four people on Wednesday in connection with the crime.
According to the police, Kunal (21) and Sumit (19) from Sonipat in Haryana picked up a pistol and 20 rounds from a spot in Amritsar about two weeks before the attack.
They never met the person who left the weapon and did not know who had put it there. Anil Pandit, a US-based operative originally from Panipat and reportedly linked to the Bishnoi network, reportedly gave them the location ahead of time.
Police allege Pandit paid the pair between `70,000 and `80,000 for the job.
The two men then passed on the gun and the ammunition to two women to carry them to Mumbai in exchange for `10,000-`20,000.
The police claim Kunal, recently out on bail, met Radha about two months earlier, began a relationship with her, told her about his activities, and persuaded her to make the trip with Babita. Both women are 23 and factory workers in Sonipat.
According to the police, on October 15, Kunal dropped the two women off at New Delhi Railway Station with the pistol in Radha’s bag. He stayed in contact with them throughout the journey on an encrypted messaging app, with instructions coming from Pandit. They arrived in Dadar on October 17 and checked into a hotel. A minor collected the bag from Radha the next day.
The next evening, shots were fired at Shroff’s car as he left a football ground near Pushpa Narsee Park. The actor escaped serious injury; his driver and a bystander were hurt. Three alleged shooters, Rehan, Phool Singh and Hrithik Kumar, were later arrested in Rajasthan’s Kota.
After the attack, Pandit allegedly told Kunal that the shooters were stranded in Mumbai and asked him to arrange their escape. Radha and Babita left the same day on the Dadar-Haridwar Express and were arrested at New Delhi Railway Station on October 20; police picked up Kunal and Sumit in Sonipat. Mumbai Police obtained transit remand for the four.
Who first put the weapon at the Amritsar dead drop and how it got into India is still unknown. The Delhi and Mumbai police are still looking into the encrypted chats, the minor who picked up the bag and the wider logistics network that supplied the weapon used on October 18.