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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.

Slouching towards India

Writer: Kiran D. Tare
Kiran D. Tare
Aug 28
3 min read

Washington’s envoy to New Delhi is bringing an unusually blunt style to a relationship that prefers results over diplomatic choreography.

Diplomacy usually rewards the careful sentence. But Sergio Gor, unbridled by diplomatic posturing, appears to prefer the ‘useful’ one.


As his recent visit to India showed, Gor, ever since taking charge as the United States ambassador to India, has made a habit of saying plainly what previous American diplomats had only implied or altogether avoided speaking about.


Unlike the career diplomats who have traditionally occupied the U.S. embassy in New Delhi in the past, Gor is a political operative and a close Trump confidant who arrived in India carrying something more valuable than a diplomatic pedigree: the President’s confidence. His appointment came at a particularly awkward moment, when Washington and New Delhi were struggling over trade, tariffs and India’s continuing purchase of Russian oil.


One of the highlights during his India tour was his description of Jammu and Kashmir as an “important part of India” was the most consequential example. Gor’s visit to Kashmir on August 19 was the first standalone visit by a US ambassador since New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August 2019 and reorganised the former state into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. His subsequent description of the region as an important part of India was therefore unlikely to be treated as diplomatic small talk.


A section of political observers have read Gor’s remark as potentially signalling a shift in Washington’s approach to a thorny issue on which successive American administrations have generally practised studied neutrality. New Delhi, on its part, has been prudent not to declare victory. The Ministry of External Affairs neither welcomed nor dismissed his formulation. Instead, spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal simply reiterated India’s established position that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh “have been, are, and will continue to be integral and inalienable parts of India”.


Gor’s statement drew predictable outrage from Pakistan, given the latter has spent the past year ingratiating itself with the United States, particularly after Operation Sindoor. Since that military confrontation between India and Pakistan in May 2025, Trump has repeatedly claimed a role in stopping the fighting. A statement by an ambassador that appears to tilt towards India is therefore welcome in Delhi, but hardly something the government will build a foreign-policy doctrine around.


For decades, American diplomacy in South Asia has been fond of hyphenation: India-Pakistan, Kashmir, regional stability. The formula has had the virtue of sounding even-handed, while often flattening the very different histories and security challenges confronting the two countries.


Now, Gor’s formulation cuts through that tradition. His praise for the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government over improvements in security, coupled with his suggestion that Washington could reconsider its travel advisory for the region, gives his remarks a practical dimension.


At the Economic Times World Leaders Forum, he said the US-India trade agreement was “almost” finalised in principle, with the remaining work largely involving legal and technical language. The formulation was revealing given the chill in Indo-U.S. trade relations, especially in wake of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on India.


Gor described Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as sharing a “deep and personal friendship”, portraying both as action-oriented and impatient with delay. He said Trump retained particular regard for Modi’s support during his period out of office after the 2020 presidential election.


Gor has also begun pushing an idea that could prove more consequential for the long-term relationship: bringing American universities to India. He has said that institutions including Harvard, New York University and Purdue are exploring an Indian presence, and that he has spoken to the provost of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about bringing American universities to India within the next year.


For Washington, it is a way of deepening the relationship beyond governments. For India, it could help expand access to globally recognised higher education without requiring every Indian student to cross the Pacific.


The US-India relationship has matured beyond the stage when symbolism alone could sustain it. Trade, technology, education and security now demand constant negotiation, and the relationship has acquired too many moving parts for carefully scripted statecraft to do all the work.


But whether Gor’s candour represents a genuinely new American line on India remains to be seen. Until then, Delhi is likely to enjoy the words without betting its relationship with the U.S. on them.

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