Three held for firing at Tiger Shroff's car in Juhu get police custody till October 31

The Esplanade Court on Wednesday sent three accused arrested in the case of firing towards actor Tiger Shroff's car in Juhu to police custody till October 31. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Crime Branch said it had arrested five more people.

The three accused are Rehan, Hritik Kurmi and Phool Singh. They were brought to Mumbai from Kota in Rajasthan on 48-hour transit remand. They were produced in court at 3.30 pm, minutes before the transit remand expired. The Crime Branch had sought 14 days' custody, saying it had to recover the pistol, find out where it came from and identify others involved in the conspiracy.

The defence opposed the plea, arguing that the police had already had the accused for 48 hours. Advocate Ajinkya Mirgal, appearing for one of the accused, said: "Transit remand is granted only for travel, not for interrogation. They should have left immediately once the order was passed. Instead, the accused were kept overnight in a railway colony and questioned."

Mirgal also questioned the need for further custody. He said: "Four accused in Delhi, two women and two men, and one accused in Haryana have already been arrested, and all this happened during transit. When so much progress has been made, on what grounds is more custody being sought?"

Co-counsel Sachin Jhalte Patil and Satyavrat Joshi, appearing for the other accused, called the 14-day remand "excessive". Joshi, who argued for Phool Singh, said call detail records and other electronic evidence could be obtained from telecom companies without custody. The court nevertheless granted custody till October 31 for recovery of the weapon and to trace its source.

The alleged role of the Bishnoi gang also came up during the hearing. The defence said only one video clip and one audio clip, posted by Anil Pandit, had surfaced so far, and that the authenticity of both was yet to be verified. According to the defence, "The matter is sub judice and it would be premature to draw any conclusion now."

According to Crime Branch officials, the firing took place near Juhu around the evening of October 18, when unidentified assailants fired at Tiger Shroff's car. An FIR was registered at Juhu police station under Sections 109(1) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act. The investigation was later handed over to the Crime Branch.

Through technical investigation, Crime Branch teams traced those accused of supplying weapons and other help to the shooters. Four accused, two men and two women, were arrested from Delhi. One more was caught from Sonipat in Haryana with the help of the Haryana Police. The five arrested in this round are said to be residents of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. They are Sameer, Ankit, Jatin, Kunal and Sumit.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) Raj Tilak Roushan said: "The investigation has revealed that the weapons were procured from Amritsar in Punjab. The two women brought them to Mumbai by train and handed them over to the shooters. One of the arrested accused stayed with the assailants in Mumbai and helped them."