Delhi Police’s Special Cell has arrested four people, including two women, for allegedly arranging and carrying the weapons used by the three shooters in the firing at actor Tiger Shroff’s car in Mumbai, an official said Tuesday, October 20, PTI reported.
The accused are Kunal, 21, and Sumit, 19, both from Sonipat, Haryana, and Radha, 23, and Babita, 23, both from Uttar Pradesh. Reports say Radha is from Azamgarh and Babita from Sitapur. Radha and Babita were arrested at New Delhi Railway Station and Kunal and Sumit in Sonipat on Tuesday, October 20.
The four were first produced before a court under Section 35(1)(b) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Maharashtra Police then sought permission for custodial interrogation and formal arrest. The court allowed the plea and gave Mumbai Police three days’ transit remand, the official told PTI. The accused have been handed over to Mumbai Police.
Police suspect the four acted on the directions of Anil Pandit, a 32-year-old gangster from Panipat who is allegedly operating from the United States and is associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
According to the sequence of events detailed by the Special Cell, Kunal had recently been released from jail on bail when a friend from Harsana village introduced him to Pandit. He began communicating with Pandit through an encrypted messaging app. On Pandit’s instructions, Kunal and Sumit allegedly collected a pistol and 20 rounds of ammunition from Amritsar.
Police said Kunal met Radha about two months ago, told her about his activities and persuaded her to travel to Mumbai with a weapon. On October 15, he allegedly took Radha and Babita to New Delhi Railway Station, with the pistol concealed in Radha’s bag. He stayed in touch with them through the app and relayed Pandit’s instructions during their journey, the official said.
The women reached Dadar in Mumbai on October 17 and checked into a hotel. Around 11 a.m., a minor boy allegedly collected the bag from Radha near the hotel.
The firing took place around 7 p.m. the next day, October 18. Reports say Shroff had gone to play football in Juhu that evening. As his car passed through fans gathered at the gate of the compound, two men fired six to seven rounds at it from the front.
One attacker, standing inches from the actor, pointed his gun directly at him, but it jammed, reports said. Shroff was unhurt. His driver and a bystander were injured.
Police said Pandit later told Kunal that the shooters were stranded in Mumbai and asked him to arrange their escape. Radha and Babita left Mumbai for Delhi the same day on the Dadar-Haridwar Express, the official said.
The three shooters, Hrithik alias Roshan, 22, from Bihar, and Rehan, 18, and Phool Singh, 18, both from Haryana, were arrested earlier in Kota, Rajasthan, as they planned to flee to Nepal, according to reports. Reports say they have links to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which took responsibility for the attack because of Shroff’s closeness to actor Salman Khan. The gang has been trying to target Khan over a blackbuck poaching case, reports said.
According to reports citing sources, Shroff was not the shooters’ original target. The sources said the three told police they went to Mumbai to kill another high-profile person but could not reach that person. They then reportedly chose Shroff after learning from fans’ reels that he had no police protection. The sources also said the shooters wanted to spread fear in Bollywood, and had been paid Rs 50,000 as an advance with promises of more money and jobs.
Police are investigating the network behind the firing and the individual roles of the four
(With inputs from PTI)