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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.

Sindoor Doctrine

Correspondent
May 8
2 min read

One year ago, in the meadows of Baisaran near Pahalgam, Pakistan-backed terrorists asked Hindu Indian tourists their religion before murdering them in cold blood. Twenty-six civilians died in an attack designed to rupture India’s social fabric. It was the sort of atrocity Islamabad had long believed it could orchestrate from the shadows while hiding behind the old doctrine of plausible deniability.


Instead, it triggered something new in form of ‘Operation Sindoor,’ which far transcended a mere retaliatory strike. It marked the arrival of a more confident Indian nation, one willing to combine political will, technological sophistication and military precision into a coherent doctrine of deterrence. In four days of combat in May 2025, India under the Narendra Modi-led BJP government completely upended old assumptions governing the subcontinent. India struck terror infrastructure across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, degraded major Pakistani airbases, neutralised incoming drones and missiles, killed more than 100 terrorists, and imposed a ceasefire on terms unmistakably favourable to New Delhi.


The most extraordinary aspect of the operation was not merely its audacity but its precision. The Indian Air Force struck targets deep within Pakistan’s heartland. Bahawalpur, home to the headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Muridke, the Lashkar-e-Taiba nerve centre near Lahore, had long been treated as untouchable sanctuaries. Using Dassault Rafale fighters armed with SCALP cruise missiles and HAMMER precision-guided munitions, India completed its opening strikes in under half an hour. Pakistani radar and air-defence systems, heavily reliant on Chinese technology, were electronically blinded before they could mount an effective response. On the night of May 9-10, India struck eleven Pakistani airbases across the country in a single coordinated wave. No previous conflict between two nuclear-armed neighbours had witnessed such a sweeping and synchronised assault on air power infrastructure. Satellite imagery released afterward showed cratered runways, shattered radar systems and destroyed hardened shelters. Pakistan’s official declarations of ‘victory’ dissolved under the weight of visible evidence.


The true symbol of Operation Sindoor was the BrahMos missile. For years, the BrahMos had been admired largely as a fast cruise missile. During Operation Sindoor, it became the centrepiece of India’s emerging doctrine of stand-off dominance. The air-launched BrahMos-A variant transformed the battlefield by proving that India could strike high-value targets deep inside enemy territory while keeping its aircraft safely within Indian airspace and without triggering uncontrolled escalation. In doing so, it reshaped the grammar of deterrence in South Asia. Operation Sindoor established a different principle of calibrated force, backed by technological superiority and political clarity, can restore deterrence rather than undermine it. It also vindicated India’s push for defence indigenisation. The operation was not won by imported hardware alone. A decade of investment in self-reliance finally met the unforgiving test of combat and passed. One year later, Operation Sindoor stands as more than a military success.

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