Tiger Shroff attack revives Bollywood's gangster past

Update, 24 Oct 2026: Police have detained an 11th suspect, a 22-year-old man from Haryana, in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, for allegedly giving logistical and financial support to the network behind the attack, ETV Bharat, Free Press Journal and National Herald reported. Details are in the arrests section below.

Gunshots fired at actor Tiger Shroff's car in Mumbai's Juhu on Sunday evening, 18 October, have left Bollywood shaken and revived memories of an era many in the film industry thought was over: the years when gangsters extorted, threatened and shot at film people.

Shroff escaped without gunshot wounds, police said. His driver and a bystander were injured. Police have arrested at least eight people across several states, and told a Mumbai court that the attack was allegedly carried out on the directions of Anil Pandit, a gangster said to be linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, The Tribune and PTI reported. The motive, police said, is still being investigated.

Key points

• Shots were fired at Tiger Shroff's car near Pushpa Park in Juhu on the evening of 18 October; he escaped unhurt.
• His driver and a bystander, a vlogger, were injured; the bystander had surgery to remove a bullet at KEM Hospital.
• Three main accused were arrested in Kota, Rajasthan, the next day; 11 people have now been held, the latest in Indore on 24 October.
• Police told a court the attack was allegedly ordered by US-based gangster Anil Pandit, linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang; the motive is under investigation.
• The attack follows Bishnoi-linked incidents involving Salman Khan's home in 2024 and Rohit Shetty's home in February 2026.

What happened in Juhu

The firing happened on Sunday evening near Pushpa Park, in the area covered by Juhu police station in Mumbai's western suburbs, PTI reported. Shroff was reportedly leaving a football session when men on a motorcycle targeted his car, Brut reported. Two of them fired, police said.

"Shroff is safe and has not sustained any injuries in the firing incident," police said, according to PTI. His father, actor Jackie Shroff, said his son was unharmed and was helping officials at the police station.

Two other people were not so lucky. Shroff's driver was injured, and a passer-by, a vlogger named Umesh Chauhan, was hit by a bullet. He underwent surgery at the civic-run KEM Hospital to remove it, and the city corporation said his condition was stable, PTI reported.

Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde visited Shroff, and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said those responsible would not be spared, Brut reported. The All Indian Cine Workers Association condemned the attack and called for better protection for people in the film industry.

The arrests

Police moved quickly, tracing the suspects through CCTV footage and the motorcycle they used, which was found abandoned in Andheri, PTI reported.

According to the police's account in court, reported by PTI and The Tribune:

• Two of the three men arrested in Kota fired five to six rounds at Shroff's car, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Raj Tilak Roshan.
• Two other suspects allegedly travelled to Amritsar to collect a pistol and ammunition.
• Two women allegedly carried the weapons by train to Mumbai and handed them to the shooters.
• The weapon has not yet been recovered, and the accused allegedly destroyed two mobile phones.

On 24 October, a joint team of the Mumbai and Indore crime branches detained a 22-year-old man from Haryana in the Pardesipura area of Indore, after tracing his phone there, Free Press Journal and Dainik Jagran reported. "The detained person was part of the support team of the syndicate," Indore Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Dandotia said, adding that he had provided logistical assistance and would be arrested if needed after questioning, National Herald reported. Reports differ on whether he has been formally arrested. He is being taken to Mumbai for questioning.

The three men arrested in Kota are aged between 18 and 22, from Haryana and Bihar, police said, The Week reported. Defence lawyers opposed the police's request for custody in court. The case is being investigated by the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch.

The alleged Bishnoi link

Soon after the shooting, a social media post and an audio message claimed responsibility in the name of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The voice in the audio, identified as Anil Pandit, claimed Shroff was targeted for continuing to associate with Salman Khan despite warnings, and threatened others in the film industry who work with Khan, The Week and Outlook India reported.

Police have told the court the attack was allegedly carried out at Pandit's direction, but say the motive and the wider conspiracy still need to be established. The authenticity of the audio has not been independently verified.

According to police sources quoted by PTI and ThePrint, Pandit is a 32-year-old from Panipat in Haryana who allegedly operates from the United States and is linked to more than a dozen extortion and targeted-attack cases in Haryana and Delhi. He has not been charged or convicted in this case.

Shroff reportedly told Shinde that he was not in touch with Salman Khan, Outlook India reported.

Why the Bishnoi gang targets Salman Khan

The gang's hostility towards Salman Khan goes back to 1998, when Khan was among those accused in the alleged poaching of blackbuck near Jodhpur during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain. The Bishnoi community of Rajasthan treats the blackbuck as sacred. Lawrence Bishnoi, who belongs to the community, has repeatedly threatened Khan.

The threats have escalated over the years, according to Outlook India and other reports:

Mumbai Police have said Lawrence Bishnoi's brother Anmol Bishnoi plotted the April 2024 shooting outside Khan's home, Outlook India reported.

Bollywood's gangster past

For people who remember the 1990s, the attack on Shroff felt familiar.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Mumbai's underworld, then dominated by gangs led by figures such as Dawood Ibrahim, was deeply entangled with the film business. Gangsters extorted money from producers, demanded rights to films, and pressured stars to sign or drop projects, according to histories of the period carried by Homegrown and Zee News.

The violence peaked at the end of the decade:

• August 1997: Gulshan Kumar, founder of the music company T-Series, was shot dead outside a temple in Mumbai. His murder became the defining example of the underworld's reach into the industry.
• 2000: Filmmaker Rakesh Roshan was shot and wounded outside his office in Mumbai, shortly after his son Hrithik's debut film became a hit. Reports at the time linked it to extortion demands.
• Around the same time, Ajit Dewani, secretary to actress Manisha Koirala, was killed, reportedly after refusing extortion demands, according to The CSR Journal.

The era ended largely because of a harsh police response. Maharashtra passed a tough organised crime law, the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), in 1999, and Mumbai Police's so-called encounter squads killed or arrested large numbers of gangsters. Hiring shooters became so risky that the gangs struggled to find them, Open magazine noted.

What is different now

The new threat looks similar on the surface but works differently, according to recent reports:

• Handlers abroad: Like the 1990s dons, today's alleged masterminds often operate from outside India, as Pandit allegedly does from the US.
• Young shooters from small towns: The shooters in recent cases have often been young men from villages and small towns in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Bihar, recruited for small sums. The men arrested in Kota are 18 to 22.
• Social media claims: Gangs now announce attacks through posts and audio clips that spread instantly, building a reputation that helps extortion.
• Beyond Mumbai: The core network sits outside the reach of Mumbai Police, in north Indian states and abroad, which makes it much harder to dismantle, Open magazine argued.

The attack on Shroff also marks an escalation: earlier Bishnoi-linked incidents in Mumbai involved shots outside homes, while this time bullets were fired at a car with people inside.

What happens next

Police have custody of the three key accused until 31 October and are trying to recover the weapon, trace the money and establish who ordered the attack and why. Raids are continuing in several states. Film industry bodies have asked for more security for actors.

Bollywood thought it had left its gangster years behind. The bullets in Juhu are a reminder that the threat changed its shape, but never fully went away.