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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.

Persistent Eye

Correspondent
Sep 6
2 min read

With the successful launch of the EOS-05 aboard the GSLV-F17, India has finally acquired its first dedicated Earth-imaging satellite designed to operate from a geosynchronous orbit. The imaging satellite is a significant step towards strategic self-reliance and will make us less dependent on foreign technology and intelligence.


The imaging satellite gives us something every serious space power needs: the ability to watch, rather than merely look. Given the magnitude of our threats and challenges, persistent surveillance is the only way out. Our very own imaging satellite was perhaps the single-most important element missing during Operation Sindoor, where we otherwise demonstrated our skill in precision targeting.


Nearly 36,000 km above the Earth, the satellite will have a vastly different vantage point from conventional low-Earth-orbit satellites, which periodically pass over a particular area and provide snapshots. EOS-05 is designed to repeatedly observe large swathes of territory, including the Indian subcontinent and adjoining regions.


A satellite that passes overhead can tell you what happened when it was there. But persistent eye can tell you what is happening real-time. This matters enormously when the subject is a rapidly changing battlefield or in monitoring activity along a remote border. India has long depended on a combination of its own satellites and imagery acquired from foreign commercial and government sources. The less we look elsewhere for strategic eyes, the greater is our autonomy.


EOS-05 strengthens the country’s capacity for continuous intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It can add another layer to monitoring the Line of Actual Control and other sensitive borders, track developments across the Indian Ocean and provide commanders with a more persistent picture of a fast-moving situation.


There is a civilian dividend, too. The same ability to repeatedly observe a large area can prove invaluable during cyclones, cloudbursts, floods and forest fires, when conditions can change faster than conventional satellite revisits allow. Its visible, infrared, multispectral and hyperspectral imaging capabilities can also assist agriculture, environmental monitoring and the management of natural resources.


Without compromising national security, ISRO should regularly release a non-sensitive image of interest from EOS-05. If a dramatic natural event occurs, point the satellite at it and show the public what India's new eye can see.


There is also a historical irony here. India could have possessed this capability several years earlier had the EOS-03 mission not failed in 2021. The successful launch of EOS-05 is, in that sense, a recovery of lost ground.


For a country surrounded by difficult borders, exposed to an increasingly contested maritime domain and operating in an era of rapidly escalating technological warfare, knowing what is happening is the first condition of knowing what to do. India has spent decades learning to reach space. It is now learning to keep an eye on Earth. 

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