The firing on Tiger Shroff outside a Juhu football ground now looks less like an impulsive act and more like a deliberate target-selection exercise. Mumbai Crime Branch sources say the three men accused in the October 18 attack had first studied considerably bigger names before settling on Shroff.
A wider reconnaissance list
During a 16-hour road journey from Kota, where they were detained, to Mumbai, the accused allegedly told interrogators that their early targets included Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan. A separate report cited by Mid-day adds Amitabh Bachchan to that list, stating that the men had earlier carried out reconnaissance outside the homes of Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan.
Salman Khan, the sources said, appeared unreachable because of his tight security cover. The accused then turned to Shroff after being told that he played football in Juhu on Sundays and moved with far fewer layers of protection. That detail is the heart of the investigation: the attack was not aimed at a name alone but at the most exposed name on the list.
Two visits, one attack
- October 11: The accused reportedly visited the Juhu football ground with the intention to attack, but Shroff was not present.
- October 18: They returned, fired multiple shots from a motorcycle, and fled the scene.
- October 21: The men were brought from Kota to Mumbai; a medical checkup precedes their court production.
The week-long gap matters. The accused did not abandon the plan after the first failed attempt. They waited, recalibrated and came back, which suggests a patient and watchful operational rhythm rather than a fit of anger.
Why the threat is industry-wide
Within hours of the firing, a man named Anil Pandit claimed responsibility on behalf of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Preliminary interrogation suggests the attack was intended to spread fear across the Hindi film industry. If that is accurate, the real audience was never Tiger Shroff alone; it was every actor whose security depends on a schedule, a location and a personal risk assessment.
That is the uncomfortable centre of this case. A star with a heavy protection ring presents one kind of obstacle; a popular actor moving between a Sunday football match, a shoot or an event presents another. The alleged shift from Salman Khan to Tiger Shroff indicates that security visibility itself is being mapped.
What the court process may reveal
The accused are now in Mumbai and are expected to be produced in court after a medical examination. Investigators are still working to establish who directed the reconnaissance, what role Anil Pandit played, and whether the three detained men were the only operational layer.
Film industry figures including Suniel Shetty, Amaal Mallik, Mika Singh, Vidyut Jammwal, Shatrughan Sinha and Ravi Kishan have condemned the attack. The wider demand forming around it is for a security conversation that moves beyond the biggest names and asks how Hindi cinema protects the many working actors, crews and locations that keep it running.
Source: Mid-day
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