The Delhi Police Special Cell on Tuesday arrested four individuals, including two women, across Delhi and Haryana for procuring and transporting the firearms used in the recent assassination attempt on actor Tiger Shroff in Mumbai. The apprehended conspirators—identified as Kunal, Sumit, Radha, and Babita—have been formally handed over to the Mumbai Police to face prosecution in the rapidly escalating underworld investigation.

The Terrifying Ambush in Juhu

The brazen attack unfolded on Sunday evening when Tiger Shroff, son of veteran actor Jackie Shroff, visited a sports turf in Mumbai’s upscale Juhu neighborhood to play football. As the Bollywood action star’s BMW vehicle made its way through a crowd of fans gathered outside the compound gates, two assailants emerged from the gathering and opened fire on the vehicle at point-blank range.

In a terrifying burst of violence, the attackers discharged between six and seven rounds directly at the car. In a chilling moment of proximity, one of the hitmen stood mere inches away from Shroff and aimed the barrel directly at the actor. The firearm jammed at the exact second the assailant squeezed the trigger, sparing the actor from catastrophic injury or death. Shroff escaped unharmed, though his driver and an innocent bystander sustained injuries during the barrage of gunfire.

Social Media Exploitation and Shifted Targets

The criminal plot has drawn intense scrutiny as investigators piece together how celebrity movements are tracked by organized criminal networks. Interrogations have uncovered that Shroff was not the syndicate’s primary target. The contracted hitmen—identified as Hrithik alias Roshan, 22, of Bihar, alongside 18-year-olds Rehan and Phool Singh of Haryana—initially arrived in Mumbai tasked with eliminating another prominent public figure. However, heavy security measures surrounding that person forced the gang to pivot to an accessible alternate target.

"After checking out areas frequented by this individual, the shooters realised that they would not be able to get to the person. This was when they shifted their target to Tiger Shroff after learning - through reels posted by his fans - that the actor does not have police protection," said a source.

The Lawrence Bishnoi criminal gang claimed responsibility for the contract, pointing to Shroff’s personal ties to actor Salman Khan as their underlying justification. The syndicate has relentlessly pursued targets linked to Khan over a long-standing grievance regarding a 1998 blackbuck poaching case. Police sources confirmed the shooters were instructed to execute a high-profile Bollywood figure to unleash panic and establish dominance throughout the entertainment industry.

Logistics: Weapons Smuggling from Amritsar to Dadar

The trail leading to the arrests in Delhi and Sonipat exposes a calculated logistical apparatus spanning multiple northern states. Kunal, a 21-year-old native of Sonipat who was out on bail in a separate case, became the operational coordinator after linking up with Bishnoi syndicate operative Anil Pandit through an associate based in Harsana village. Pandit commissioned the strike, after which Kunal procured a pistol along with 20 live cartridges from Amritsar.

Kunal enlisted Radha, a resident of Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, two months prior to orchestrate the weapon delivery. On October 15, Kunal accompanied Radha and her accomplice Babita, an Azamgarh native, to the New Delhi Railway Station to board a Mumbai-bound train. The handlers directed their movements continuously through an encrypted messaging application, passing along direct operational orders issued by Pandit.

Upon reaching Mumbai’s Dadar station on October 17, the two women checked into a local hotel. Shortly thereafter, a minor boy arrived at their accommodation, collected the weapon cache from Radha, and delivered the armaments to the waiting trigger men. The shooting was executed the very next day. Following the gunfire in Juhu, Radha and Babita promptly fled Mumbai aboard the Haridwar Express from Dadar, attempting to blend back into the national capital region before police teams intercepted them.

Intercepted Flight to the Nepal Border

The three original shooters were apprehended earlier in Kota, Rajasthan, while actively attempting to escape across the international border into Nepal. Authorities revealed that the trio had been paid an initial cash advance of Rs 50,000, alongside the promise of substantially larger financial payouts and future underworld employment upon the successful execution of the hit. The coordinated arrests across Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi highlight the deep reach of syndicated crime syndicates seeking to leverage the immense public visibility of Bollywood stars for extortion and intimidation.