Mumbai Police advisory: Bollywood actors told to avoid crowds after Tiger Shroff firing

Mumbai Police have issued a security advisory to Bollywood actors, asking them to avoid crowded public places and not to mingle with fans in public, sources told India Today TV on Tuesday (10 November). A senior Mumbai Police officer said it was a precaution in view of renewed security concerns around film celebrities in the city.

The advisory comes weeks after the 18 October firing on actor Tiger Shroff's car in Juhu. Shroff escaped largely unhurt; his driver and a bystander were injured. As The Indian Idiot reported earlier, all 11 accused arrested in the case were later re-arrested under the stringent MCOCA law. A social media post claiming responsibility in the name of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang appeared soon after the attack; that claim has not been independently verified.

Since then, it has emerged that the homes of several well-known people were allegedly surveyed. The Statesman, citing IANS, reported that Mumbai Crime Branch sources said on 21 October that the accused had allegedly scouted the residences of Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar, and had been told to pick celebrities with relatively light security. During questioning, the accused reportedly said they learnt about Shroff's security arrangements from fan-made reels that suggested he had no police protection at the time. These accounts come from police sources and have not been officially confirmed.

Other threats have been reported too. Actor Ayushmann Khurrana received a threatening audio message last week from a man claiming to be an aide of the jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who demanded crores of rupees, Mumbai Police sources told India Today; the sender's claimed link to the gang has not been established. Amitabh Bachchan was seen greeting fans outside his Juhu bungalow from behind bulletproof glass last week, after an email threatening bomb blasts at his residence was sent to Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde, India Today reported. On Sunday evening (8 November) he went back to greeting fans without the glass.