Mumbai, Oct 21 — The accused in the firing incident involving Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff had arrived in Mumbai about a month ago and allegedly conducted a recce of the homes of several prominent Bollywood celebrities, according to Mumbai Crime Branch sources.
According to police sources, the accused would ask auto-rickshaw drivers, whom they hired to travel around Mumbai, to take them to the residences of Bollywood stars. They allegedly claimed that they wanted to photograph the celebrities’ homes.
Subsequently, different auto-rickshaw drivers took them to the residences of several actors, including Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan.
Police sources said the accused had been instructed to target celebrities who had relatively limited security.
During their recce, an auto-rickshaw driver allegedly informed them that Tiger Shroff played football at a ground in Juhu every Sunday.
Acting on this information, the accused visited the football ground on October 11. However, Shroff did not turn up that day.
The accused returned to the same ground the following Sunday, October 18, this time carrying weapons. During the visit, they allegedly opened fire at Shroff’s car.
According to police sources, some other individuals from Haryana had also travelled to Mumbai around the same time. They allegedly conducted reconnaissance before returning to Haryana.
Meanwhile, the accused allegedly discarded both weapons at an unidentified location while fleeing Mumbai after the attack. The Mumbai Police are now attempting to trace and recover the firearms.
According to police sources, the attackers used two pistols during the incident, one foreign-made and the other domestically manufactured. However, they reportedly had limited information about which of the two weapons was foreign-made.
Investigators are continuing their efforts to locate the discarded firearms as part of the probe into the firing incident.
The Mumbai Crime Branch is investigating the case to establish the roles of the accused and determine the full extent of the alleged conspiracy.