The three accused shooters who allegedly fired at actor Tiger Shroff’s car initially targeted Bollywood star Salman Khan, according to a police source.
They conducted reconnaissance on Salman’s Mumbai residence before abandoning the plan after finding police deployed outside his home, India Today reports.
They subsequently turned their attention to actor Shroff after learning from fan posts and Instagram pages that he regularly visited a football ground in Mumbai’s Juhu area on Sundays, the report said citing sources.
They allegedly believed Shroff would be an easier target because he moved around in public with less security.
Khan’s security was strengthened after a shooting incident at his residence in 2024. He has Y-plus security cover provided by Mumbai Police, with round-the-clock deployment outside his home and armed policemen accompanying him in a jeep.
Local police teams also sanitise locations he visits and deploy additional personnel at venues, apart from his accompanying security detail. His security has since been tightened further, with barricades erected near his apartment.
Soon after the shooting targeting Shroff, Anil Pandit and Harman Sandhu, both allegedly linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, claimed responsibility in a social media post and issued renewed threats to those working with Khan, the Indian outlet reported.
The post said the group had previously warned Shroff but claimed he had ignored the warnings.
“Regarding the incident with Tiger Shroff today, we take responsibility. We had called and warned him earlier, but he failed to understand, so today we made him understand properly (sic),” the post read.
It also threatened others in the Hindi film industry who refused to heed the group’s demands or worked with Khan, while warning rival groups against claiming responsibility for the incident.
Who were the Attackers?
Three alleged shooters – two from Haryana and one from Bihar – were arrested by Kota Police in Rajasthan in connection with the shooting before being handed over to Mumbai police.
Four other people, including two men and two women, were arrested in Haryana’s Sonipat district over their alleged role in supplying weapons to the shooters, sources said.
The two women, identified as Radha and Babita, allegedly worked as couriers for the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. They reportedly travelled by train from Haryana to Mumbai with weapons and handed them over to a handler linked to the gang.
They were arrested while returning by train and questioned by the Special Cell, sources said.
During interrogation, they allegedly disclosed the involvement of a man named Kunal, who was subsequently arrested. Kunal is suspected of being close to Pandit, an alleged associate of the gang.
According to sources, Kunal had sent the women to Mumbai with the weapons. Further questioning led to the arrest of another man, identified as Sumit.
Police are investigating the alleged roles of all four accused and their suspected links to the wider network involved in the attack.