Police Custody Till October 31 for Three Accused in Firing at Tiger Shroff's Car; Eight Arrested in Bishnoi Gang Probe
Mumbai: Three men accused of involvement in the firing at Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff's car in Mumbai's Juhu area were brought to the city from Rajasthan on Wednesday and remanded in police custody till October 31, even as investigators probing the case said as many as eight people have been taken into custody or arrested in connection with the attack.
The three accused — Rehan alias Sukka, hailing from Sonipat in Haryana; a 22-year-old identified in reports as Hrithik Mahto alias Roshan, from Bihar and living in Andheri; and Phool Singh, also from Haryana — were presented before a magistrate on Wednesday after being brought from Kota in Rajasthan, where they had been picked up.
The police, seeking extended custody, told the court that the attack had allegedly been carried out on the directions of Anil Pandit, an alleged associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The court accepted the request and remanded the three in police custody till the end of the month, allowing investigators time to pursue lines of inquiry including call detail records and the recovery of the firearms allegedly used in the shooting.
The custody remand marks the latest development in an investigation that has rapidly expanded since Sunday evening, October 18, when assailants opened fire on Shroff's car near Juhu. The actor, 36, was returning from a football practice session at Pushpa Narsee Park when the shooting took place. According to police, five to seven rounds were fired at the vehicle.
In a chilling detail that emerged from the investigation, one of the guns allegedly jammed when it was pointed directly at the actor. Shroff escaped unhurt and was released after a check-up at a hospital, while his driver and a bystander sustained injuries.
Within hours of the attack, a group claiming to be affiliated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang asserted responsibility. Anil Pandit and Harman Sandhu were reported to have claimed the attack through an audio clip and a social media post, with the stated reason being Shroff's proximity to actor Salman Khan.
The claim injected a familiar and menacing pattern into the case: the Bishnoi gang has repeatedly been linked by investigators to threats and attacks against figures in the Hindi film industry, and Salman Khan himself has been at the centre of those warnings for years.
Investigators told the court that the shooters had initially planned to target Salman Khan but changed their target to Shroff, reportedly believing the younger actor was an easier target with a smaller security detail. The alleged 22-year-old shooter is said to have joined the Bishnoi gang a year ago and to have assisted the two shooters on the ground; the trio had reportedly planned to flee to Nepal after the attack, police said.
As the probe widened, officers uncovered what they described as surveillance of several other celebrity homes. The accused allegedly surveyed the Bandra residence of actor Ranbir Kapoor and visited buildings where actors Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh live. Officers have said they are yet to establish whether these movements were carried out on the gang's instructions or out of the curiosity of the accused themselves.
Security outside some of the homes has been increased as a precaution, officials said.
A purported note attributed to the gang circulating after the attack carried an ominous warning. "Anyone who works or supports Salman Khan will be our next target," it reportedly said, adding the Hindi phrase "number sabka ayega" — everyone's turn will come. The police have not confirmed the authenticity of the message, and officials continue to treat such claims as unverified while the investigation proceeds.
The arrests so far paint a picture of a network that stretched across state lines. Eight people have been arrested in all. Among them are Babita, 23, from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, who worked as a packer in Sonipat, and a woman identified as Radha; the two were arrested at New Delhi Railway Station. Kunal, 21, and Sumit, 19, were arrested from Sonipat in Haryana. Two more accused, Jatin and Sameer, were detained in Haryana and their transit remand is pending, officials said.
The arrest of Babita has drawn particular attention because of her family's account of how she became entangled in the case. According to her family, Radha tricked Babita under the pretext of visiting temples in Mumbai, and Babita had no knowledge of the alleged plot. Her father, Ramjanam Ram, said he has full faith in the justice system and added that if his daughter is found guilty, she should be punished.
The family maintains that she was an unwitting participant, a claim the police are expected to test against the evidence as the investigation continues.
The attack has shaken the film fraternity and raised fresh questions about the security of celebrities in Mumbai, which is widely regarded as the safest of India's big metros for public figures. Maharashtra minister Ashish Shelar met Shroff after the incident, a meeting that underscored the seriousness with which the state government is treating the case.
For the police, the investigation now has two broad strands. The first is evidentiary: establishing the chain of conspiracy, identifying who ordered and financed the attack, recovering the firearms, and analysing call detail records to map the accused's communications in the days before the shooting.
The second is preventive: assessing the gang's reach among film personalities, evaluating whether the surveillance of other actors' homes signals further planned attacks, and determining how a network of largely young men from modest backgrounds was mobilised across Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The Bishnoi gang's name has surfaced in a string of high-profile cases over the past few years, including the firing outside Salman Khan's Mumbai residence in April 2024, the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique in October 2024, and threats to several other celebrities. Each incident has prompted the Mumbai police to upgrade security for the figures named, and each has intensified the national conversation about organised crime's shadow over the entertainment industry.
The claims of responsibility in the Shroff case fit that pattern, though police officials have cautioned that such claims require verification rather than acceptance at face value.
Legal experts note that cases built around gang conspiracy allegations typically hinge on the prosecution's ability to connect the accused on the ground to the alleged handlers. The custody remand till October 31 gives the police time to pursue that chain, but it will also test the strength of the evidence linking the foot soldiers to the figures alleged to have directed them.
Meanwhile, the film industry is watching closely. Actors' associations and production houses have privately expressed concern about a pattern in which celebrity residences become sites of armed attacks, and there have been calls for a more systematic review of security arrangements for high-profile figures, including those who do not enjoy the kind of round-the-clock protection afforded to the industry's biggest names.
Shroff himself has not made a public statement beyond cooperating with the investigation. Those who know him describe him as shaken but steady, continuing his work commitments while the police probe continues around him.
As of Thursday, all eight accused remain in custody, with investigators continuing to interrogate them and following up on leads across states. The police have not ruled out further arrests. With the custody of the three key accused extending till October 31, the coming days are expected to be decisive for the direction of the case — and for whether the alleged conspiracy behind the firing at one of Bollywood's fittest stars can be fully unravelled.
(Reporting based on The Telegraph, The Indian Express, Frontline and NDTV.)