Suspect In Attack On Bollywood Actor Tiger Shroff Held In Indore
. “The Mumbai crime branch has taken him into custody for interrogation”: A Senior police officer
BHOPAL: A joint team of the Mumbai and Indore police on Saturday arrested a suspect, Pranjal Thakran, in the October 18 attack on Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff in Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Separately, Mumbai police said they recovered two firearms from Surat that were allegedly used to target the actor's car.
Thakran, hailing from Sonipat in Haryana, was held on charges of involvement in the conspiracy in the crime and supply of weapons used in the attack, police said. “The Mumbai crime branch has taken him into custody for interrogation”, a senior police officer said.
Indore additional deputy commissioner of police Rajesh Dandotia said Thakran was traced based on inputs given by the Mumbai crime branch. Police suspected Thakran provided logistical support and financial or operational assistance to the shooters and key conspirators involved in the attack.
PTI reported police sources claiming claimed that the assailants who fled after opening fire at Shroff were receiving real-time updates from their handlers about the police probe via news channel coverage, enabling them to alter their escape routes.
According to the police, Thakran landed in Indore five days ago to facilitate treatment of his brother. Mumbai crime branch police alerted the Indore police on Thursday night about the presence of the suspect in the city, leading the latter to launch a search operation for him.
Ten people, not including Thakran, have so far been arrested in connection with the incident. The Lawerence Bishnoi gang, via overseas-based Anil Pandit, claimed responsibility, warning against ties to actor Salman Khan.
On Friday, police carried out targeted operational raids at a hideout in Surat and recovered two firearms allegedly used in the shooting and ten live cartridges, an official said. Before that, police tracked the logistical trail of the weapons provided to the assailants.
The recovered 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.
The shooters, Phool Singh and Rehan Rahisuddin Ansari, both aged 18, and Rithik Mahto, 22, were taken into custody from a train in Kota on October 19. They are in police custody until October 31.
As media outlets broadcast news updates, unseen handlers were relaying the information directly to the shooters through encrypted Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) messaging applications, sources in the Mumbai crime branch said, according to PTI.
According to the sources, at one point during the escape, when news channels aired visuals of the attack, one of the primary suspects received an urgent instruction on his mobile phone: “Tumhare chehre aa gaye hain, nikal jao waha se (Your faces are out, get out of there).”