Nagpur, October 20: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday asserted that the Mumbai Police would track down everyone involved in the firing incident targeting actor Tiger Shroff — and, crucially, the handlers directing them from the shadows. "We will also track down their handlers, who hide elsewhere and send instructions from there," Fadnavis said, making clear that such acts of intimidation would not be tolerated in the state.
Speaking in Nagpur, the Chief Minister said police had obtained important leads about the identification of the accused, that suspects had been identified and would be arrested soon. He revealed that the accused were operating from outside Maharashtra — possibly from abroad — and said the police would coordinate with other states and seek the Centre's assistance to track down those operating from foreign soil.
People operating from within the state, he added, had already been arrested. Describing the perpetrators as "cowards", Fadnavis declared: "These are cowards who attempt to strike from hiding. Their attempts will be foiled, and they will not be spared."
The incident that has shaken Bollywood occurred on Sunday evening, October 18, in the upscale Juhu neighbourhood of Mumbai. Three unidentified men reached Pushpa Park in the area; as Tiger Shroff was returning from a football match, two of them opened fire at his car. The actor escaped with minor abrasions — visuals from his meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde later showed bandages on his hand and chest.
But others were not so fortunate. His driver suffered a gunshot wound and is recovering in hospital; another person, an autorickshaw driver who happened to be nearby, was also injured in the firing. In a moment of remarkable composure, Tiger himself took the wheel after seeing his driver injured.
Karan Veer Mehra, who had been playing football with Shroff and was driving just behind him, later revealed that he noticed spots of blood after the attack — a chilling detail that conveyed how close the incident came to tragedy.
The Lawrence Bishnoi gang has claimed responsibility for the attack through a viral social media post, though the police have yet to verify the authenticity of that claim. The Mumbai Police registered an attempt-to-murder case against three unidentified persons and transferred the investigation to its Crime Branch, signalling the seriousness with which the case is being treated.
Then came the major breakthrough. In a significant development reported on Tuesday, the Mumbai Police arrested three suspects aboard a Jaipur-bound express train at Kota Junction in Rajasthan. Investigators had traced a motorcycle allegedly used in the attack and followed the suspects' phone trail to the train, intercepting the trio before they could flee further.
According to the police, the three had been promised Rs 37,000 for carrying out the attack — a strikingly small sum for an attempt on a film star's life — along with the chance to flee abroad, possibly to Nepal. The arrests mark a rapid advance in an investigation that is now barely two days old, and they lend weight to Fadnavis's assertion that the network extended beyond Maharashtra's borders.
Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde struck an even harder line, saying the police would respond to the shooters "in their own language" and that the government would not shy away from a "bullet-for-bullet" police response.
The tough rhetoric reflects the political pressure the incident has generated: an attack on a prominent actor in the heart of Mumbai raises uncomfortable questions about the reach of organised crime and the safety of public figures in the country's financial capital.
Fadnavis, for his part, also took a swipe at the Opposition for politicising the incident. He asked Opposition leaders to introspect, referencing the Mansukh Hiren case and pointing out that ministers had to go to jail during their tenure — a counter-attack aimed at blunting criticism that the government has failed to maintain law and order. He assured Tiger Shroff of complete safety, a promise the government will now be expected to keep in visible and concrete terms.
The human dimension of the story continued to unfold on Tuesday. Veteran actor Jackie Shroff attended an event with Chief Minister Fadnavis — his first public appearance after the attack on his son — saying he was relieved that his son was fine and that the injured driver was recovering. For a family that has been in the public eye for four decades, the appearance was both a statement of resilience and a quiet plea for normalcy.
The investigation now moves to its next, more difficult phase: establishing the chain of command behind the shooters. The Bishnoi gang's claim of responsibility, if verified, would place the attack in the context of a pattern of threats and violence linked to the gang, which has targeted several Bollywood figures in recent years. But verification takes time, and the police have been careful not to confirm the claim prematurely.
What is clear is that the shooters were foot soldiers in a larger operation — recruited with the promise of a modest payment and an escape route across the border, directed by handlers who, as Fadnavis put it, hide elsewhere and send instructions from there.
The economics of the alleged plot are striking. Rs 37,000 — roughly the price of a mid-range smartphone — is what the three suspects were reportedly promised for an attempt on the life of one of Bollywood's biggest action stars, with the added lure of a flight abroad, possibly to Nepal.
It is a grim illustration of how organised crime syndicates operate in the current era: outsourcing violence to expendable recruits for sums that reveal how little the foot soldiers' lives are valued by those who hire them, while the planners remain insulated by distance and layers of intermediaries. The promise of escape to Nepal, a porous border away, follows a familiar template.
The investigative trail itself reveals a police force adapting to the same modern realities. The suspects were traced through a combination of old-fashioned legwork — identifying the motorcycle allegedly used in the attack — and digital forensics, following the phone trail until it led investigators to a Jaipur-bound express train pulling through Kota Junction.
The interception, carried out far from Mumbai in Rajasthan, suggests close coordination and a determination to catch the accused before they scattered. It also lends credence to Fadnavis's claim that the network stretched beyond Maharashtra, with the Chief Minister explicitly flagging the possibility of handlers operating from abroad and promising to seek the Centre's help in reaching them.
The political dimension of the case was on full display in Fadnavis's remarks. His swipe at the Opposition — asking them to introspect, invoking the Mansukh Hiren case and noting that ministers had to go to jail during their tenure — was a pre-emptive strike against the narrative that the incident reflects a collapse of law and order under his government.
Shinde's "bullet-for-bullet" rhetoric, meanwhile, was aimed at a different audience: a public rattled by the sight of gunfire in Juhu, and a film industry that will be watching closely to see whether the government's tough talk translates into convictions. For now, the government has the arrests to point to. Whether it gets the handlers is the question on which its credibility will ultimately rest.
The arrests at Kota Junction suggest the police are moving fast, but the real test will be whether they can climb the ladder from the men on the motorcycle to the men giving the orders. The Chief Minister has staked his government's credibility on doing exactly that. Mumbai has seen its share of underworld violence over the decades, and the city's police have a storied record of dismantling organised crime networks.
Whether this case becomes another chapter in that record — or a reminder of the underworld's enduring reach — will depend on what happens in the weeks ahead.
(Reporting based on The Hindu, The Economic Times and Hindustan Times.)