The Mumbai Crime Branch has recovered two firearms and 10 live cartridges from Surat in Gujarat that investigators believe were used in the firing at Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff's car, marking a significant breakthrough in a case that has gripped the city since the attack on October 18.
The recovery was made on Friday, October 23, during targeted operational raids conducted by investigating officials, a police official said on Saturday. The weapons and ammunition have been sent for forensic examination and ballistic testing to match them with the empty shell casings retrieved from the crime scene, a step that could provide crucial evidence linking the recovered firearms to the attack itself.
"A team of the Mumbai Crime Branch has recovered two firearms and 10 live cartridges from Surat, Gujarat," officials said in a statement, during the course of investigation of a case registered under Sections 109(1) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act. The case relates to attempt to murder and other offences arising from the firing in Juhu.
In a further development, a 22-year-old man was arrested in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, on Saturday in connection with the case, taking the total number of persons arrested to 11. The suspect, identified as Pranjal Thakran, originally from Sonipat in Haryana, was nabbed in a joint operation by the Mumbai Crime Branch with help from local police, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Dandotia.
Thakran had come to Indore five days earlier for the treatment of his paralysed brother, police said. Investigators suspect that he provided logistical support and financial or operational assistance to the shooters and key conspirators involved in the attack. He was being interrogated by a crime branch team, and formalities to arrest him and bring him to Mumbai on transit remand were underway, a Mumbai police official said.
The attack itself took place on the evening of Sunday, October 18, near Pushpa Park in Mumbai's Juhu area. At least two men fired gunshots at Shroff's car before speeding away on a motorcycle. According to Mumbai Police, five to six rounds were fired at the vehicle.
Five of the rounds hit the BMW in which the actor was travelling, injuring his driver and a person nearby, while two missed, according to one police account. The actor himself escaped relatively unhurt and did not sustain any gunshot injuries.
The motorcycle allegedly used by the shooters was later found abandoned in Andheri. The same day the bike was seized, last Monday, the three accused attackers were arrested from Kota railway station in Rajasthan and brought to Mumbai early on Wednesday. They were subsequently sent to police custody till October 31.
The three accused include a 17-year-old minor, while the other two were identified as 22-year-old Hrithik Kumar alias Roshan, originally from Begusarai in Bihar, and 18-year-old Rehan, from Sonipat in Haryana. Police believe the accused had conducted a detailed recce and tracked Shroff's movements, including his weekly routine, before carrying out the attack. They escaped based on a pre-planned route, travelling along SV Road through Vile Parle and Andheri.
Beyond the three shooters, several other people have been apprehended from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana as the investigation has widened. Police sources said the assailants who fled after opening fire were receiving real-time updates from their handlers about the police probe via news channel coverage, enabling them to alter their escape routes. That claim, if confirmed, would underline how closely the gang monitored the investigation even as it unfolded.
As the probe continues, the role of gangster Anil Pandit has come under the scanner. Mumbai Police have named him as a wanted accused. Pandit is an alleged associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, and had claimed responsibility for targeting the actor on October 18. The alleged gang link has raised the stakes of the investigation, turning what might have been treated as an isolated attack on a celebrity into a case with wider implications for organised crime in the city.
The recovery of the weapons is significant for several reasons. First, it addresses one of the central gaps in the investigation: while the shooters were arrested quickly, the weapons themselves had remained untraced, and police told the court that they were on the lookout for them.
Second, forensic and ballistic matching, if successful, would strengthen the prosecution case considerably, tying the arrested men and the recovered firearms to the same incident through physical evidence rather than statements alone.
Third, the trail to Surat sheds light on the logistics of the crime. Police said crime branch teams tracked the logistical trail of the weapons provided to the assailants, leading them to a hideout in Surat where the firearms were recovered. Investigators are now working to trace additional links in the supply chain, examining how the weapons reached the shooters and who else may have been involved in procuring and supplying them.
The case has also revived a broader conversation about the safety of public figures in Mumbai, a city whose film industry has, in past decades, faced extortion threats and attacks linked to organised crime.
While the Mumbai Police have in recent years projected the city as far safer for the film fraternity than it was in the 1990s, the firing at a well-known actor's car in a busy residential area like Juhu has shaken that confidence and prompted questions about how such an attack could be planned and executed in the first place.
For Shroff, the incident has been a deeply unsettling experience, even though he escaped physical injury. The actor has not commented in detail publicly on the investigation, and police have been careful to protect the privacy of those involved while the case proceeds. His driver and the bystander who were injured have received treatment, and their condition has been a matter of concern for fans and colleagues alike.
The legal process now moves into its next phase. The three main accused remain in police custody till October 31, during which investigators will confront them with the recovered weapons and other evidence. The suspect detained in Indore will be brought to Mumbai on transit remand, and his interrogation may open up new lines of inquiry into the support network behind the attack.
Police have also told the court that the accused had destroyed two mobile phones, a detail that suggests an effort to erase digital evidence. Investigators will now attempt to recover data from other sources, including call records and surveillance footage, to reconstruct the planning of the attack and the movements of those involved.
The investigation is far from over. Officials say further investigation is underway to trace additional links in the supply chain and to identify others who may have played a role. With 11 people now arrested and the alleged weapons recovered, the police believe they have made substantial progress, but the key questions remain: who ordered the attack, why Shroff was targeted, and how far the network behind it extends.
For Mumbai, the case will be watched closely, not only for its outcome in court but for what it reveals about the current state of organised crime and celebrity security in the city. The recovery in Surat and the arrest in Indore show an investigation that is following leads across state lines, and a police force determined to present a complete case rather than a quick one.
(Reporting based on The Hindu and The Indian Express.)