MUMBAI: Mumbai police have said the attempt on actor Tiger Shroff’s life could have ended very differently had one of the handguns in the assailants’ hands not jammed.The brazen firing, of a kind often witnessed in Delhi-NCR, left the actor with burns from gunpowder residue. Police said the malfunction may have prevented a graver danger to his life.
Seven shots at a slow-moving car
The incident took place around 7pm on Sunday near Pushpa Narsee Park, also known as Jamnabai Nursery, as Tiger Shroff was leaving a birthday party.The attackers opened fire as his car was slowly moving out of the venue, and seven shots hit the vehicle, injuring his driver, Firdaus, and a passerby identified as Umesh Charan. The spot is around 350metre from Juhu police station.Police have said the outcome could have been far worse.One of the handguns in the assailants’ hands jammed, or malfunctioned, during the ambush, which may have saved the actor’s life. Had the weapon worked, police said, Shroff’s life would have been in grave danger.The police backed the jammed gun theory with the fact that it recovered two live bullets from the crime scene.Shroff escaped with injuries reportedly caused by gunpowder residue, a sign of how close the shots were fired.Police said two of the three accused fired five to six rounds at the car. The firearms used have not yet been recovered, and police have not said which weapon malfunctioned.
“Jaldi le kar jaao, Tiger”
The shooting was captured on video, with the clip showing shots being fired at close range at the car.Another video shows Shroff switching seats with his driver after the attack, while a woman can be heard urging him to leave, saying, “Jaldi le kar jaao, Tiger”.The 36-year-old actor, son of veteran actor Jackie Shroff, took control of the vehicle and rushed the injured driver to hospital. Shroff and Firdaus were taken to Nanavati Hospital in Vile Parle for medical attention.
3 accused nabbed within 15 hours
Addressing a press conference on Monday, DCP Raj Tilak Roshan said three suspects were caught from a train in Kota, Rajasthan, within 15 hours of the incident.The inter-state operation was executed by 20 special teams of the crime branch, with technical and operational assistance from the Delhi, Gujarat and Rajasthan police.None of the accused is a minor, he said.One is 18 years old and the other two are 22. Two are from Haryana and one is from Bihar. Two of them fired five to six rounds at the car.
How the trail led to Kota
As per the police, Crime branch teams analysed technical footprints and recovered the motorcycle used in the crime near Andheri (West) railway station.By tracing the owner’s details, investigators tracked the suspects’ escape route to Surat, where they boarded the Pune-Jaipur train.Mumbai Police shared real-time intelligence with Kota police, who intercepted the train at Kota junction and caught all three within minutes of its arrival.A special crime branch team has taken their custody from Rajasthan Police and is bringing them to Mumbai.
Motive still unclear
The DCP said there had been no earlier complaint of any threat to Shroff, and the motive remains unascertained.He said that police are verifying social media claims in which some individuals purportedly accepted responsibility for the shooting, and are probing all angles, including whether any handlers or external conspirators were involved.A case has been registered at Juhu police station under sections 109(1) (attempt to murder) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, read with Sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act.Further investigation has been handed over to the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Crime Branch.(With agency inputs)
