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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.

The Keeper of Lord Ram’s Ledger

Writer: Kiran D. Tare
Kiran D. Tare
Jun 19
3 min read

For decades Champat Rai was the quiet custodian of Hinduism’s most consequential movement in recent times. Now the man who helped build the Ram Mandir finds himself confronting questions about the temple’s accounts.

If Ayodhya has a living archive, it is probably Champat Rai. For decades, the bespectacled Hindu nationalist leader has been a fixture in the temple town, a man whose memory of obscure land records, court filings and forgotten episodes during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement had earned him a reputation as the “encyclopaedia of Ayodhya.” To his admirers, Rai has earned a deserved reputation as a tireless organiser. And yet today, at the age of 80, he finds himself at the centre of an uncomfortable controversy involving financial irregularities and mismanagement of the Ram Mandir donation funds.


The Uttar Pradesh government’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) recently questioned Rai, who is the general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, over allegations involving donation theft and financial mismanagement at the Ram Mandir.


While the allegations have yet to result in a police case, several complaints seeking the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) have been lodged though none has so far been acted upon.


Nevertheless, the spectacle of investigators examining the finances of Hinduism’s most politically significant shrine has cast a shadow over an institution that only recently stood as the crowning achievement of a decades-long movement.


Rai is no ordinary temple administrator. His story mirrors the rise of the Hindu nationalist movement itself. Born Champat Rai Bansal in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh in 1946, he was drawn to the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at an early age. Unlike many firebrand leaders associated with the temple agitation, his beginnings were distinctly academic. He taught chemistry at RSM Degree College in Bijnor and appeared destined for a conventional career in education.


During the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975, he was arrested because of his links with the RSS. Police officers reportedly arrived at his college to detain him while he was teaching. Urban lore has it that Rai asked them to wait until he finished the lecture. They did so.


He spent 18 months in prison, an experience which was to prove transformatory. Upon his release, he abandoned academia and dedicated himself full-time to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) that would become the principal spearhead of the Ram temple campaign.


For the next four decades, Rai immersed himself in the movement, organising cadres, cultivating networks among activists and developing an encyclopaedic grasp of Ayodhya’s labyrinthine history. Lawyers representing the Hindu side in the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute frequently relied on his knowledge of documentary evidence, land records and historical claims.


His credentials within the movement were cemented on December 6, 1992, when he participated in the kar seva that culminated in the demolition of the Babri Masjid. To supporters, that day represented the removal of a historical injustice. This marked a turning point in modern Indian politics and Rai was present at its epicentre.


When the Supreme Court’s 2019 verdict cleared the way for construction of the Ram Mandir, few individuals were better positioned to oversee the project. As general secretary of the newly formed Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, he became the chief manager of one of the most ambitious religious construction projects in modern India.


From the bhoomi pujan ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2020 to the temple’s consecration, Rai was involved in virtually every aspect of the undertaking. He supervised logistics, coordinated construction and managed the constant flow of donations that poured into Ayodhya from devotees across India and abroad. In a way, he became the temple’s chief executive.


While the current allegations against him may ultimately amount to nothing, the SIT’s investigation itself is significant. The Ram Mandir is no longer merely a movement now but an institution handling enormous sums of money and carrying immense symbolic weight.


For Rai, the challenge is far larger than personal reputation. Throughout his life, he functioned as what admirers call the “record-keeper of Ram Lalla” - a meticulous guardian of documents, memories and claims. The irony is hard to miss. The man who spent decades defending the legitimacy of the Ram temple project is now being asked to account for the legitimacy of its finances. For a movement that sought to reclaim a sacred past, this may prove to be its most modern test.

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