Mumbai: The Anti-Extortion Cell produced four actor Tiger Shroff firing case accused — Radha Verma (21), Babita Rao (23), Sumit Sarolia (19) and Kunal Sanjay (21) — before the 37th metropolitan magistrate on Thursday and remanded in police custody till Oct 26. With their arrest, the number of accused in police custody has increased to seven. Three more persons are in transit and are likely to be produced before the court on Friday.
Police have alleged that Kunal and Sumit collected a pistol and 20 rounds of ammunition from Amritsar on gangster Anil Pandit’s instructions, while Radha and Babita allegedly helped transport the weapon to Mumbai.
Seeking the custody of the four accused, investigating officer Sunil Pawar told the court that the attack was allegedly carried out on Pandit’s instructions. Police have invoked provisions relating to organised crime, criminal conspiracy and offences under the Arms Act, paving the way for the possible invocation of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). All four accused were arrested by Delhi Police and handed over to Mumbai Police. Investigators are examining the alleged network through which weapons and ammunition were transported to Mumbai and supplied to the shooters. Their exact roles are still under investigation. Police are probing Pandit’s role in recruiting the shooters, arranging weapons and coordinating the conspiracy. The prosecution argued that the weapons had yet to be recovered and that the flow of money and the entire conspiracy were yet to be unearthed. The defence lawyers, Ajinkya Mirgal and Sutyabrath Joshi, argued that the main accused had already been arrested and that no further recovery was required, and sought judicial custody for the four accused.