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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 8:56:24 pm

Accused trio get 10-day remand

Mumbai: A Mumbai Court has given 10 days police custody to three arrested accused in the firing on Bollywood action star Tiger Shroff in a crowded public place as the investigators attempt to unravel the conspiracy, motives, involvement of other players and related aspects of the sensational case, on Wednesday. The accused trio Rehan alias Sukka, and Phool Singh both from Sonipat in Haryana and Rhitik Kurmi alias Roshan, originally from Begusarai in Bihar but currently residing in Mumbai,...

Accused trio get 10-day remand

Mumbai: A Mumbai Court has given 10 days police custody to three arrested accused in the firing on Bollywood action star Tiger Shroff in a crowded public place as the investigators attempt to unravel the conspiracy, motives, involvement of other players and related aspects of the sensational case, on Wednesday. The accused trio Rehan alias Sukka, and Phool Singh both from Sonipat in Haryana and Rhitik Kurmi alias Roshan, originally from Begusarai in Bihar but currently residing in Mumbai, were brought here from Kota in separate vehicles early today. They were produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Esplanade Court where the police sought 14 days’ custody for the accused who are allegedly acting at the behest of the jailed mafia chief Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang. Pleading for the remand, the police lawyers argued that sustained custodial interrogation was necessary to recover the weapons used in the shooting – which the accused had thrown away while fleeing, retrieve two mobile phones which were reportedly destroyed by the accused, besides digging out the entire conspiracy, pinpoint the exact motives and identify other persons involved in the brazen attack. Opposing the plea, the accused’s lawyers Ajinkya Mirgal and Satyabrat Joshi argued that police custody was unnecessary, particularly for recovering the weapons. Mirgal and Joshi later told mediapersons that the accused had already been interrogated at a railway colony during their transit-remand period and were produced before the CMM Court just minutes before the transit remand expired this afternoon. After hearing both sides, the CMM remanded them to police custody for 10 days till October 31. It may be recalled that Shroff, 36, was targeted on the evening of October 18 near Pushpa Narsee Park in Juhu. Despite being a heavily crowded area, the assailants were seen firing at least 5-6 rounds at the actor’s car before fleeing on a motorcycle. A shaken Shroff escaped relatively unhurt, sustaining minor bruises, but his driver and a bystander suffered injuries. Following the incident, the Mumbai Police registered a case of attempted murder and offences under the Arms Act, and launched an interstate investigation involving Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, and later Gujarat and Delhi. The Mumbai Police formed 20 teams to hunt down the attackers, recovered the second-hand motorcycle outside Andheri station where it was abandoned and tracked their journey through different modes of transport from Mumbai to Surat and Kota. Acting on a tech-intel alert from Mumbai Police, the Kota Police lay in wait for them and apprehended them from the general coach of the Pune-Jaipur Superfast Express on Monday morning. Initial probe revealed that the assailants were planning to flee the country after travelling to the borders via Jaipur and Delhi. They were lured by the promise of sneaking them out of India to a foreign country, possibly Canada and rehabilitating them. Three key accused brought to Mumbai from Kota Three key accused apprehended in connection with the firing at actor Tiger Shroff’s car were brought to Mumbai from Kota in Rajasthan early on Wednesday, police said. Police brought them by road from Kota to Mumbai and, upon arrival, immediately took them to GT Hospital for a mandatory medical examination, an official said. Following the medical check-up, the accused were escorted to the Mumbai Crime Branch’s Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) office for interrogation. The accused have been identified as Rehan alias Sukka, from Sonipat in Haryana; Ritik Kurmi alias Roshan, originally from Begusarai in Bihar and living in Mumbai; and Phool Singh from Haryana, the official said. The Kota city police had handed them over to Mumbai Police, which formally arrested them and produced them before a magistrate there. The court granted transit remand to take them to Mumbai. Meanwhile, advocate Ajinkya Mirgal arrived at the AEC office in Mumbai on Wednesday morning, informing officials that he would represent the accused as their defence counsel in the case. At least two men fired gunshots at Shroff’s car in Mumbai’s Juhu area on Sunday evening before speeding away on a motorcycle. The actor escaped relatively unhurt, while his driver and a bystander were injured. According to Mumbai Police, five to six rounds were fired at the car. A motorcycle, allegedly used by the shooters, was found abandoned in Andheri. The accused fled to Surat and once there, boarded a Jaipur-bound train. The three were supposed to go to Delhi on a bus and then flee to Nepal. The Mumbai Police have registered a case under the provisions of attempt to murder and the Arms Act. According to the police, Rehan was in touch with Anil Pandit, an alleged associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which claimed responsibility for the attack in an unverified social media post. On Tuesday, the Delhi Police Special Cell arrested four more persons, including two women, in connection with the firing case. Police suspect they were acting on the directions of Anil Pandit, a gangster operating from abroad, an official earlier said. The four accused, identified as Kunal (21), Sumit (19), Radha (23), and Babita (23), were apprehended from Delhi and Haryana. According to police, Kunal allegedly collected a pistol and 20 rounds from Amritsar on the instructions of Anil Pandit, with Sumit accompanying him. Radha and Babita allegedly travelled to Mumbai with the weapon. Following the arrest, the police said the motive of the shooting was being ascertained, while the way Shroff was attacked, the assailants planned to kill him.

A New Shooting Prodigy

Writer: Kiran D. Tare
Kiran D. Tare
May 29
3 min read

Esha Singh’s dominance in Munich announces the arrival of a new kind of Indian shooting champion.

Perhaps because of the nature of her sport, shooter Esha Singh announced her brilliance quietly, almost stealthily. Earlier this week, the 21-year-old Indian shooter stood amid one of the strongest pistol fields in Munich, Germany to snare a gold in the women’s 25-metre pistol event at the ISSF World Cup with a world-record score of 43.


Munich is regarded as one of the toughest arenas in international shooting where the margins are microscopic and the pressure is relentless. Yet Esha shot as though she was insulated from both.


She opened the final with three flawless series, hitting 15 targets out of 15 and immediately forcing the rest of the field into pursuit mode. By the time the competition reached its closing stages, the contest was about how far ahead the Indian prodigy would finish.


Such was Esha’s dominance that Olympic champion Yang Ji-in of South Korea faded to fifth while Germany’s Doreen Vennekamp, shooting before a home crowd and carrying the pedigree of a former world champion, finished five hits behind. The previous world record, held by Kim Ye-ji was left in the shade by Esha’s new record.


But records do not fully explain what made her performance remarkable. From the opening series, Esha shot with an almost eerie composure.


Even her rare mistakes felt temporary. When she missed her first shot in the fourth series, there was no visible panic or collapse in rhythm. She responded with the kind of emotional neutrality that elite athletes spend entire careers trying to cultivate. Under elimination pressure in the sixth and eighth rounds, she fired perfect scores again.


There was something revealing in what Esha said afterward. She admitted that she had not even realized she had broken the world record until after the event ended.


That focused attitude has defined much of her rise. Born in Hyderabad in 2005, Esha did not initially seem destined for shooting. As a child, she moved through sports casually after trying her had at badminton and tennis before a visit to the shooting range at Gachibowli Stadium altered the trajectory of her life. Her father, a former rally driver, recognized both her fascination and discipline quickly enough to build a paper shooting range at home so she could train obsessively.


India’s shooting ecosystem had seen prodigies before, but Esha’s emergence was startling even by those standards. At 13, she defeated established names such as Manu Bhaker and Heena Sidhu to become the youngest national champion in the 10 m air pistol event. The victory announced her talent, but perhaps more importantly, it hinted at something psychological. While young athletes are often intimidated by reputations long before they are defeated by skill, Esha appeared immune to this phenomenon.


At the 2022 Asian Games, she collected four medals, confirming her place within India’s increasingly formidable shooting pipeline. Later came a junior world title in the 25-metre pistol event and qualification for the Paris Olympics.


Yet it would be simplistic to view Esha merely as the latest product of India’s shooting revolution. India has already produced icons in the discipline in form of Manu Bhaker’s fearless confidence, Heena Sidhu’s precision, Rahi Sarnobat’s resilience transformed the country into a serious shooting nation. But Esha represents a slightly different evolution of the Indian shooter, one who is technically polished, emotionally self-contained and unusually indifferent to external noise.


That emotional self-containment was visible even in the way she described pressure after the Munich final.


Esha’s victory carried an additional layer of redemption. During the previous Munich World Cup cycle, she had failed to qualify for the finals despite posting a respectable score. This year, she arrived determined not merely to compete but to conquer a venue that had once rejected her.


The setting made the achievement larger. Munich occupies a special place in world shooting because of the density of elite competition it attracts. “Even getting into the top eight is very tight,” Esha observed. For many shooters, surviving qualification there already feels like an accomplishment.


But Esha triumphed effortlessly, and with a kind of understated Indianness.


Her gold medal in Munich has secured India’s first individual shooting medal of the ISSF World Cup season and earned her qualification for the season-ending World Cup Finals in Rome later this year. The ISSF already regards her as one of the world’s brightest young talents.


Esha speaks softly and carries little visible theatricality. But behind that calm exterior exists an athlete capable of dismantling Olympic champions under suffocating pressure.

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