The two alleged shooters, both 18 and from Haryana’s Sonipat district, reportedly spent a month in Mumbai before the October 18 firing in Juhu.
Even as three more arrests were made in the Tiger Shroff shooting on Wednesday, taking the total to ten, police have learnt that the shooters had carried out reconnaissance at the homes of two more A-list actors, in addition to the Bandra (west) residence of Salman Khan.
Police said the shooters, recruited by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, had surveilled the Khar residence of actor Aamir Khan and the home of actor Ranbir Kapoor in Mumbai. Interrogation of the two shooters, Phool Singh and Rehan Ansari, and their accomplice, Hritik Kumar aka Roshan Ramu Mahto, has revealed that Shroff was not the gang’s original target but was chosen for the hit as he lacked security cover. They had abandoned the idea of another target as their security was too tight to breach.
Shooters spent a month in Mumbai before Juhu attack
The two 18-year-old shooters – Phool Singh and Rehan Ansari, both residents of Sonipat district in Haryana – had stayed in Mumbai for a month before the October 18 shooting in Juhu. They had checked into various lodges in Dadar and spent around ₹2 lakh, including the cost of the Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle used in the shooting, police said.
During this time, the accused also surveilled the residences of Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor. The shooters also told the police that on October 11, a week before the firing, they visited the Juhu football ground where Shroff regularly played. They were unarmed at the time.
They received the pistols used in the attack a day earlier, on October 17, and practiced in a forested area before one of the pistols jammed. They took the weapons to the lodge where they were staying and while attempting to fix the pistol, it accidentally went off. Police are yet to verify these details.
Police are hoping more details will emerge as they interrogate the ten accused arrested in the case until Wednesday. The accused include the two shooters and their accomplice. They were intercepted and arrested in Kota from a train headed for New Delhi after the firing and brought to Mumbai on Wednesday. Police are yet to recover the firearms used in Sunday’s firing and the mobile handsets of the accused. They have been remanded to police custody until October 31.
Delhi Police arrested four alleged weapon suppliers and facilitators
The Delhi police arrested four others, including two women, on Tuesday, for supplying weapons to the shooters and harbouring them. They were identified as Kunal Sanjay, 21, Sumit Soraliya, 19, Radha Verma, 23 and Babita Rao, 23. They were arrested in Delhi and Sonipat in Haryana.
Three more arrests were made on Wednesday – Sameer, Jatin and Ankit – in Sonipat. Police said Sameer is an alleged co-conspirator, who was in touch with Anil Pandit, a key Bishnoi operative who orchestrated the October 18 shooting.