Mumbai: The accused in the firing case involving actor Tiger Shroff had reportedly conducted reconnaissance of the residences of several celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan, before the attack, according to sources in the Mumbai Crime Branch.
The shooters were reportedly instructed to target celebrities whose security arrangements were relatively less stringent. During the reconnaissance, different auto-rickshaw drivers had also taken the accused to the residences of several celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan.
It is learnt that the accused would ask auto-rickshaw drivers, whose services they used to get around Mumbai, to show them the homes of Hindi film stars. The accused allegedly told the drivers that they wanted to take pictures of the celebrities’ residences. Subsequently, different auto-rickshaw drivers took them to the homes of several actors.
During this period, an auto-rickshaw driver reportedly informed the accused that actor Tiger Shroff, son of Hindi film star Jackie Shroff, visited a football ground in Juhu every Sunday to play football.
Following this information, the accused reached the football ground on October 11, but Tiger Shroff did not visit the venue that day.
The accused then returned to the same ground the following Sunday, October 18. This time, they were carrying firearms. It was during this visit that firing was carried out at Tiger’s vehicle.
According to the police, some other individuals had also travelled to Mumbai from Haryana during the same period. They allegedly conducted reconnaissance before returning to Haryana.
After the attack on Tiger, the accused discarded both firearms at an unidentified location while leaving Mumbai.
According to police sources, the attackers had used one foreign-made pistol and one country-made pistol in the attack. The accused reportedly did not have much information about the type of foreign-made pistol they had used.
On October 20, the initial questioning of the accused revealed some significant information that the ‘Baaghi’ actor was not the primary target.
The Mumbai Police is now tasked with tracing the location where the firearms were discarded.
It was October 18 when Tiger escaped after three motorcycle-borne men opened fire at his car in the Juhu area of Mumbai. Within hours of the incident, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang shared a post on social media, taking responsibility for the attack.
The accused reportedly learned through social media reels shared by Tiger’s fans that he did not have police protection at that time, and keeping this in mind, they decided to target him.
During the preliminary questioning, it was also revealed that the attack on Tiger was intended to spread fear in the industry.
Several members of the film industry, including Amaal Mallik, Mika Singh, Vidyut Jammwal, Shatrughan Sinha, and Ravi Kishan, have raised their concern following the incident.
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