Mumbai, Oct 26 A court here on Monday extended till October 28 the police custody of four persons, including two women, held for allegedly aiding the shooters in the Tiger Shroff firing case.
Kunal (21) and Sumit (19), residents of Haryana’s Sonipat district, and Radha (23) and Babita (23), both from Uttar Pradesh, are among the 11 people arrested in the case.
Kunal, Sumit, Radha and Babita were produced before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Esplanade Court) S Khedkar at the end of their previous remand on Monday.
Police sought extension of their custody stating they had full knowledge of the conspiracy, adding that the accused need to be confronted with the previously arrested co-accused. The data recovered from their phones needs to be analysed, police further told court.
The investigation revealed that the accused were communicating on Signal app, which they destroyed. Data comprising photos and videos, including of the weapons used in the crime, has been recovered from their phones, police said.
Custody was required for verification of this data, police said, adding that the voice samples of two accused were yet to be collected.
The defence, represented by Ajinkya Migral, contended that custody cannot be granted on mechanical grounds.
The confrontation between the accused doesn’t require strict police custody, and it can be done in jail as well with court’s permission. Hence, the accused should be sent to judicial custody, the defence argued.
After hearing both sides, the court extended police custody of the four accused till October 28.
As per the police, these accused had travelled to Amritsar to procure the weapons, while the two women smuggled the firearms by train to Mumbai, handing them over directly to the attackers.
At least two men fired five to six rounds at Shroff’s car in Juhu area on October 18 before speeding away on a motorcycle, which was found abandoned in Andheri. The actor escaped relatively unhurt, while his driver and a bystander were injured.
A case has been registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Arms Act for attempt to murder and other offences.
(PTI News)
