Before Tiger Shroff firing, Rs 30,000 to shooters via SBI funded a getaway bike, lodge to stay

On October 18, two men opened fire at Tiger Shroff's car. Shroff suffered minor injuries from broken glass, while his driver and a vlogger who was filming the actor sustained bullet injuries. Suneha was arrested in Karnal, Haryana, and brought to Mumbai on transit remand. (File)

The Mumbai Police has alleged that a cryptocurrency account operating overseas through a local public bank account was used to provide money to the accused arrested for the attack on Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff.

Special Judge S R Navander sent Suneha Pandit, an accused in the case arrested on Sunday, to police custody till November 16 on Tuesday. The court said prima facie, according to police records, Suneha’s arrest was linked to the money trail and that her custodial interrogation was required to investigate finances, her role, and gather information about the absconding accused.

Suneha Pandit is the sister-in-law of Anil Pandit, a main accused and leader of an organised crime syndicate. Suneha’s arrest is the 13th one in the case.

Police claimed Suneha was aware of the conspiracy as her phone number had been linked to an SBI bank account registered in his name. The police alleged that this bank account was used to give Rs 30,000 to an accused, Hrithik Kumar alias Roshan, to buy a motorcycle and pay for a lodge where some of the accused had stayed.

On October 18, two men opened fire at Tiger Shroff’s car. Shroff suffered minor injuries from broken glass, while his driver and a vlogger who was filming the actor sustained bullet injuries. Suneha was arrested in Karnal, Haryana, and brought to Mumbai on transit remand.

Special public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves told the court a probe had shown that Abhishek, a main accused and Anil Pandit’s brother, had an SBI Bank account in his name linked to Suneha’s phone number. He is also suspected of operating a cryptocurrency wallet, which is linked to a Cambodian phone number used through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) set in Denmark to hide his actual location, the police said.

Police told the court that the amounts in this wallet were suspected to be crime proceeds procured through extortion. Money was sent through this account to the local SBI account, which was used by the previously arrested accused in arranging logistics by using a linked QR code and UPI ID. The police alleged that from August 2022 to October 2026, over Rs 47.26 lakh was in the account.

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“Transactions are seen from this account to other arrested accused, including on the day of the incident,” the prosecutor told the court, adding that Suneha, a homemaker with no source of income, was aware of what the account was being used for and was to be probed further to determine the locations of Abhishek and Anil.

Suneha’s lawyer, Ajinkya Mirgal, said the account was a family account and money in it cannot be said to be linked to the crime. He added that she was arrested only to get a confession. He said that the police had earlier stated the account was used through persons based overseas and therefore Suneha could not be said to have been behind its operations.

The other 12 accused are also in police custody till November 6.

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Sadaf Modak is a distinguished Legal Correspondent based in Mumbai whose work demonstrates exception... Read More