An office-bearer of the Shiv Sena’s film wing —Chitrapat Sena — was injured on Friday afternoon when he was shot at by two motorcycle-borne assailants at the Film City in Goregaon, very close to where megastar Amitabh Bachchan was shooting. According to police, the assailants struck around 2 pm at one of Mumbai’s most favoured shooting locations. Shrikant, alias Raju Shinde (45), general secretary of Chitrapat Sena and security contractor, was seated on a chair under a tree at the time of the incident.
Shinde sustained three bullet wounds — one each in abdomen, back and right hand. He was immediately taken to Nanavati Hospital where his condition was described as “critical”. Amitabh, who was shooting at a location that is in the vicinity of the shootout site, tweeted: “Okay !! Shooting at Film City .. and a gang war shootout 20 feet from where we are ... !! 1 dead .. cops all over”.
After a while, Big B issued a clarification through another tweet: “Correction: In gang shootout where I was shooting in Film City person shot at is NOT dead. He has been taken to hospital”. The other security personnel present in the vicinity chased the two motorcycle-borne assailants, who ran away from the scene after abandoning their two-wheeler at some distance.
“We have seized the abandoned motorcycle. Through RTO records, we are trying to ascertain as to who is the owner of the vehicle. Apart from looking for the two assailants, we are also trying to ascertain as to whether Shinde had received any threats and what was motive behind the attack,” Additional Commissioner of Police Fateh Singh Patil said. Patil said that the one of the assailants, sitting on the pillion of motorcycle, was wearing a helmet making it difficult for the security personnel to identify him as they ran after the duo till some distance.