Tiger Shroff’s shooters came for him a week earlier, but he skipped football that Sunday

The three men who opened fire at Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff outside a Juhu football ground on Sunday were also at the spot a week earlier, on October 11, hanging around for some time, CCTV footage and call data records show. Police suspect they had come to carry out the attack on the actor then, but left because he didn’t turn up to play that day, an officer told The Indian Express.

“Shroff loves playing football and comes to Pushpa Narsee Ground between 5 pm and 7 pm every Sunday. He hardly misses any Sunday,” a friend, who was with him this Sunday too and who did not wish to be identified, said.

On October 18, CCTV footage shows they arrived at the park around 4.30 pm and kept walking up to the gate and looking inside to check whether the actor was there, the officer said. Police suspect there may have been others too keeping a watch on Shroff’s movements, to alert the shooters. Shroff eventually emerged around 7 pm, when the shooters opened fire.

Police believe the intention of the shooters was to kill Shroff and his driver.

The bike that was allegedly used in the Tiger Shroff (left) firing case, at DN Nagar Police Station. (File; Express Photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

Shroff’s friend said he and the others at the ground initially mistook the sound of the gunfire to be firecrackers. Another team had burst crackers a few minutes earlier to celebrate a team member’s birthday, he said.

“However, people soon started screaming that two men had fired bullets at Tiger and that his driver had been injured. I rushed outside and saw Tiger moving into the driver’s seat of the car. Before I could speak to him, he drove away,” he told The Indian Express, adding that Tiger “is a very polite, humble person”.

Three accused captured after attack on actor Tiger Shroff in CCTV footage.

The FIR was registered on complaint of the driver, Firdous Ibrahim Baloch, 48, a Jogeshwari resident who has worked for the family for 28 years. The FIR says Baloch was driving Shroff in a BMW, and as soon as the car turned left after exiting the gate, two gunmen opened fire, from the front and the left side of the car. The third accused waited on a motorcycle and the men fled on it after the firing.

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Baloch was also able to give the description of the men and what they were wearing, saying the two shooters both wore white shoes and black trousers, with one of them in a white floral shirt and the other in a light-blue full-sleeved shirt. The man on the motorcycle wore a chocolate-coloured T-shirt with a white stripe and grey trousers, the FIR says.

Baloch was shot in the left wrist, with the bullet lodged in his forearm. He also fractured his right ring finger. Shroff suffered injuries to his chest and right hand, according to the complaint.

Forensic experts and police collect samples of evidence from the spot where unidentified assailants fired at Tiger Shroff, near Pushpa Narsee park, Vile Parle west in Mumbai (Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

After the firing, Shroff moved into the driver’s seat and drove himself and Baloch to the Santacruz Police Station. Police then took them to Nanavati Hospital.

The friend said he went to Nanavati Hospital with two others, where Shroff was in the emergency ward. “About an hour later, his sister and mother, along with some family friends, arrived,” he said.