Three men suspected of firing on actor Tiger Shroff’s car in Mumbai were arrested on Monday at Kota railway station in Rajasthan, less than a day after the attack. Police said they had fled the city by train, and Mumbai Police had formed 15 special teams to trace them.
The men were taken off the Pune-Jaipur Express by a joint team of Rajasthan’s Anti-Gangster Task Force and Kota City Police, acting on information from Mumbai Police.
The accused
Police identified them as 17-year-old Phool Singh and 18-year-old Rehan, both from Sonipat in Haryana, and 22-year-old Hritik Kumar, alias Roshan, a native of Begusarai in Bihar who lives in Andheri West and works as a Rapido rider. Kota Superintendent of Police Tejaswani Gautam said two of the accused are from Haryana and one from Bihar. One of the accused is a minor, so this report does not name him.
Whether the men belong to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang remains to be established. An earlier social media post claimed the gang was responsible, which investigators are still probing, though an NDTV report citing sources said the three are part of the gang. Police have not publicly confirmed that account.
Planned attack
Investigators say the shooting was premeditated. The assailants reportedly knew Shroff visited the Juhu football ground on Sundays and attacked him as he left in his car. A video circulating online purportedly shows two men firing through the windshield and side window of his BMW.
After the firing, the accused allegedly followed a planned escape route through Vile Parle and Andheri, abandoned their motorcycle near Andheri West railway station, and boarded a train. Preliminary investigation, cited by ANI, indicates they later crossed into Gujarat to evade police.
Police said Shroff escaped unhurt, while his driver and an autorickshaw driver were injured. Some outlets have reported minor injuries to the actor’s arm and chest, which police have not confirmed.
Official response
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Mumbai Police would track down those involved and their handlers, and that such acts would not be tolerated. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who visited Shroff at his Bandra residence, said those responsible would face a strong response. Fadnavis had also spoken to Shroff by phone, assuring him the accused would be traced soon.
The social media claim that followed the attack also warned that people in Mumbai’s film industry who continue to work with Salman Khan could be targeted. The message said those associated with Khan could be next. The gang has been tied to earlier violence against Khan. In April 2024, two men on a motorbike fired at his Bandra residence, and police later named Lawrence Bishnoi and his brother Anmol “wanted accused.”
The gang’s grievance dates to October 1998, when Khan was shooting Hum Saath Saath Hain in Rajasthan. Members of the Bishnoi community say he was seen killing two blackbuck antelopes on safari. Khan strongly denies it. A Jodhpur court convicted him in 2018 and sentenced him to five years, and his appeal has continued. The Bishnoi, a Rajasthan-based community that holds blackbuck sacred and follows tenets protecting wildlife and trees, have long said the gangster does not speak for them.