They are running down a platform at Surat Railway Station. Not an unusual sight in itself. However, in this particular case, the runners are accused of attempting to assassinate Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff.
A group of people are standing on one side and a train is entering the station when the men appear in the frame, running down the platform before leaping into a general coach even as the train is on the move, shows a CCTV video.
Another footage shows the suspects entering Surat Railway Station through an exit gate at around 1:31 am, just hours after they fired at the 36-year-old actor’s car as he was leaving a football club in Mumbai’s Juhu area on Sunday night.
The CCTV trail, say sources, establishes their movement from the road to Surat Railway Station before they boarded the train.
The three suspects allegedly reached Surat by road in a Maharashtra-registered taxi.
The three accused received Rs 50,000 collectively as advance to carry out the attack, according to police sources. Investigators are questioning the accused to establish their individual roles and determine whether all three were directly involved in the shooting.
Tiger Shroff, known as much for his eye-catching dance moves as for his action heroics, was waving at his fans through the rolled-up car windows, when the men opened fire. A man in front, holding up a gun supported by both hands, fired at the car, showed a video. Another man, wearing a cap, was seen firing from the side. A man on a bike was stationed right there and the three then fled on it, the video showed.
The attackers reportedly abandoned their motorcycle near Andheri West railway station before boarding a train towards Borivali. Hours later, they were spotted at Surat Railway Station.
The actor, son of the ’80s star Jackie Shroff, escaped unhurt but his driver and another driver of an autorickshaw were injured in the incident, police said.
The accused were intercepted in Rajasthan’s Kota, while they were on a train and headed to Delhi, police said, adding, they wanted to flee to Nepal.
“We covered the exit points, platforms and various other locations to apprehend the accused. It was the Pune-Jaipur Express. We received the information around 9:45 am. The Mumbai Police have arrived, and we will hand the accused over to them… Preliminary questioning revealed that they intended to travel to Delhi by this train and then escape to Nepal from there,” Kota Superintendent of Police Tejaswani Gautam told reporters.
The messages and locations among the accused were being shared through the Signal and Telegram apps, sources said. The police are yet to recover the firing weapon from the accused, who were travelling in a general compartment when they were caught.
The Lawrence Bishnoi gang has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a viral social media post, but police are yet to verify its authenticity.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who visited the actor late on Sunday night, said “bullets would be answered with bullets” and warned that the government would not tolerate gang wars in Mumbai. Shinde said the actor had suffered injuries to his left hand from gunpowder and glass fragments.