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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.

Against the Odds

Writer: Kiran D. Tare
Kiran D. Tare
Jul 3
3 min read

Hokato Hotozhe Sema, who lost a leg in Kashmir, has redrawn the boundaries of military service and transformed India’s Paralympic imagination.

While there are military decorations that reward courage under fire and sporting medals that honour excellence in competition, it is rare for the two to converge in one life. That they have done so in the career of Subedar Hokato Hotozhe Sema says as much about the changing face of India’s armed forces as it does about the country’s belated embrace of Paralympic sport.

 

Earlier this week, Sema became the first Indian Paralympian to be awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM), which is India’s highest peacetime military honour for distinguished service. The distinction is remarkable not merely because such decorations seldom go to a Junior Commissioned Officer, but because it recognises an achievement that transcends conventional military notions of service.

 

Sema has become the embodiment of an institution’s refusal to see disability as the end of usefulness. A native of Nagaland's Niuland district, Sema joined the 9 Assam Regiment in 2000. Barely two years into service, during a counter-infiltration operation along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, he stepped on a landmine. The explosion claimed his left leg below the knee. For many soldiers, such an injury would have marked the end of a career and the beginning of a life measured by rehabilitation rather than ambition.

 

But Sema chose another path. Introduced to para-sports by Colonel Gaurav Dutta at the Army Paralympic Node in Pune, he took up shot put under coach Rakesh Rawat. Fellow villagers questioned whether the pursuit was worthwhile. They asked his parents why he persisted in sport after so many years with little to show. Sema’s response was simply to urge them to wait.

 

The wait has been worthwhile. At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Sema threw a personal best of 14.65 metres to secure bronze in the men's F57 shot put. It was India’s first medal in that event and the culmination of two decades spent rebuilding a life interrupted by violence. The medal followed another bronze at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou and brought with it an Arjuna Award.

 

But this success was followed by injuries and disappointment. Rather than quitting, Sema instead returned to training. Earlier this year, he won the National Para Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar before setting a new national record of 15.21 metres at the Indian Open International Para Athletics Championships in Bengaluru, qualifying for this year's Asian Para Games in Japan. His ambition is now to throw beyond 16 metres and stand atop the podium.

 

Heroism, in Sema’s case, was not a single act of battlefield courage but the daily decision to return to the training ground despite pain, doubt and public scepticism. It is in this light that his AVSM matters.

 

Military honours are symbols as much as rewards. By conferring one of its highest peacetime decorations upon a Paralympian, the Indian Army has expanded the very meaning of distinguished service. It has sent out a clear message that service need not end with injury, nor is excellence confined to the battlefield. The award means that rehabilitation itself can become a continuation of duty, carrying the nation’s colours into arenas where victory is measured by other means rather than military objectives.

 

India’s Paralympic movement has undergone a quiet revolution over the past decade. From being an afterthought in sporting administration, para-athletes have increasingly become some of India's most dependable medal winners. Improved coaching, specialised training centres and greater public recognition have begun to replace the charity-driven approach that long characterised disability sport. Yet the ecosystem remains uneven, dependent upon a handful of institutions, most notably the armed forces, that possess the resources to identify and nurture talent.

 

Sema illustrates what becomes possible when those resources are matched by individual determination. His career suggests that disability need not diminish excellence; when properly supported, it can redefine it. His rise carries particular significance for India’s volatile north-east region.

Nagaland has produced soldiers of distinction for generations, but international sporting icons have been comparatively rare. Messages of congratulations from political leaders captured a wider sentiment that Sema had ventured into “uncharted territory” by creating possibilities that scarcely existed before.

 

By becoming the first Paralympian to receive the AVSM, Sema has expanded the meaning of military service and reinforced the idea that resilience deserves recognition no less than sacrifice. For a country only beginning to take Paralympic sport seriously, that may be the longest throw of all.

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