None of the three accused arrested in the Tiger Shroff firing case is a minor, Mumbai Police said on Monday, adding that two assailants fired five to six rounds at the actor's car.
Addressing a press conference, DCP Raj Tilak Roshan said one of the accused is 18 years old and the other two are 22. "Two accused are from Haryana, and one is from Bihar. Two of the three arrested assailants had fired five to six rounds at Tiger Shroff's car," he said.
The DCP said the motorcycle used by the assailants was found in Mumbai's Andheri area. "No weapon was recovered from three suspects. We are bringing them to Mumbai from Rajasthan," he said.
Roshan said there had been no earlier complaint about a threat to Tiger Shroff. "The motive behind firing on the actor is not yet ascertained. We will find it out after interrogating the suspected assailants," the DCP added.
Notably, the three men who allegedly fired at actor Tiger Shroff were nabbed on Monday from a train at the Kota station following a swift 15-minute operation while possibly on their way to Nepal from Mumbai.
The three, including Ritik alias Roshan from Begusarai in Bihar and Rehan from Haryana's Sonipat, were picked up from the general coach of the Pune-Jaipur Superfast Express when it halted in Kota at 10.17 am, said Kota Superintendent of Police (SP) Tejaswani Gautam.
As investigation into the incident on Sunday evening in Mumbai’s Juhu area gathered pace, police added that Rehan was in touch with Anil Pandit, an alleged associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang that claimed responsibility in an unverified social media post.
The shooting targeting the popular “War” star on a busy Sunday evening was captured on video, the clip showing gunshots being fired at close range at his car.
While the 36-year-old, who is also veteran actor Jackie Shroff’s son, escaped relatively unhurt, his driver and a bystander were injured.
A purported audio clip in which Pandit, a 32-year-old US-based gangster from Panipat, is heard claiming Tiger Shroff was attacked because he ignored warnings to not work with superstar Salman Khan was circulated widely across several media platforms.
Pandit can be heard demanding an apology from Salman Khan to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and community. The star was allegedly involved in the shooting of a blackbuck, sacred to the Bishnoi community, in 1998. If there was no apology, others in the film fraternity close to the star would also be targeted, Pandit threatens.
Pandit has been linked to extortion, firing incidents, and threats across Delhi, Pune, Haryana, Canada, Thailand, and Dubai.
(With inputs from PTI)
