Three motorcycle-borne assailants fired seven rounds at Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff’s car in Mumbai’s Juhu neighbourhood on Sunday evening, police said, in an attack that left the actor shaken but unhurt. His driver was shot in the left hand, and a bystander standing nearby also took a bullet.
The firing happened around 7 pm local time near Pushpa Park — also known as Jamnabai Nursery — as Shroff was leaving after playing football and attending a birthday celebration, according to police. The car was roughly 350 metres from the Juhu police station when the three men, described as dressed in white shirts, opened fire and then fled toward SV Road and Vile Parle railway station.
A Mumbai Police deputy commissioner confirmed the incident in a statement: “A firing incident has been reported under Juhu Police Station. Actor Tiger Shroff is safe and has not sustained any gunshot injuries. Further investigation is underway.”
The wounded
The driver, identified as Firdosh, was hit in the left hand and taken to Nanavati Hospital. Umesh Charan, 35, a fan standing nearby hoping for a glimpse of the actor, sustained a bullet injury and was admitted to Cooper Hospital. Police initially said Shroff had suffered slight abrasions from shattered glass after the car’s windows broke, but DCP Mohit Garg later confirmed the actor himself was not injured.
The manhunt
Mumbai Police have formed 15 special teams, drawing personnel from the Crime Branch and local police, to trace the assailants. Forensic teams are examining ballistic evidence and the vehicle, and officers are working through CCTV footage from the area to establish the escape route.
Shroff, 36, the martial-arts star of the Baaghi franchise, was last seen on screen in Baaghi 4. The attack drew an immediate response at the top of Maharashtra’s government: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke by phone with Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti and directed a swift investigation, while state minister Ashish Shelar confirmed the actor was safe and in touch with his family.
An unverified gang claim — and a threat to others
Hours after the attack, a social media post attributed to two men calling themselves Anil Pandit and Harman Sandhu claimed responsibility, alleging that Shroff had been “warned multiple times” not to work with Salman Khan — one of Indian cinema’s biggest stars — and threatening that anyone else in Mumbai’s film industry who works with Khan “will be next.”
Police have pointedly not verified the claim. Officers said they had not authenticated it, and rumours linking Pandit to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang — the organised crime syndicate whose jailed boss has been linked to a string of celebrity threats — remain unconfirmed.
Why this matters beyond India
Indian cinema is the largest film industry on earth by ticket sales, and its stars function as national institutions. Attacks on them are rare and politically charged — they are treated as tests of the state’s ability to protect public figures, and they reverberate through an industry that employs hundreds of thousands.
This is not an isolated incident. In April 2024, shots were fired outside Salman Khan’s Bandra home; more recently, there was a firing at filmmaker Rohit Shetty’s Juhu residence. The pattern has raised the question Mumbai’s film world now asks openly: whether organised crime is systematically trying to intimidate the industry into obedience. Sunday’s attack — the most brazen yet, aimed directly at a moving car surrounded by fans — has turned that question into an emergency.
For global audiences, the story sits at the intersection of celebrity, organised crime and state capacity: a major star of one of the world’s biggest entertainment industries, shot at in India’s financial capital, with a gang allegedly claiming the hit on social media. How Mumbai responds — whether the 15 teams find their men, and whether the police establish who actually ordered the shots — will define the city’s security credibility for years.
