A shooting targeting actor Tiger Shroff in Mumbai has once again put one of India's most closely watched criminal networks under the spotlight. Three men allegedly opened fire on Shroff's car near Pushpa Narsee Park in Juhu on October 18. The actor escaped without a bullet injury, but his driver and another person were hurt. Soon afterwards, individuals claiming links to the Bishnoi gang posted messages taking responsibility and threatening people associated with Salman Khan.

The latest police investigation has added another layer. Sources told Hindustan Times that Khan may actually have been the shooters' original target, but his security arrangements made an attack difficult. Investigators are now trying to establish who directed the shooters and how the operation was organised. The case shows how a criminal network that began around student politics in Punjab expanded across states, prisons and eventually international borders.

Lawrence Bishnoi: How the Jodhpur Years Changed the Gang’s Trajectory

According to a detailed Hindustan Times reconstruction based partly on a 2020 police-recorded confession, Lawrence Bishnoi began building his reputation through student politics and campus violence in Punjab before his network expanded into Rajasthan. He was involved in Panjab University politics from the late 2000s and faced multiple criminal cases during those years.

By 2014, increasing police pressure in Punjab pushed him towards Rajasthan. HT reports that he spent time in Jaipur, developed links with people involved in the liquor trade and gradually built contacts outside his original university network. Those Rajasthan connections later became significant because they brought him into contact with people from Jodhpur and members of the Bishnoi community. The police-recorded account cited by HT should not be confused with a judicial finding on every event it describes, but it provides investigators' account of how the network evolved.

From Campus Politics to Organised Crime

The transformation did not happen overnight. HT reports that Bishnoi's earliest criminal activity largely revolved around campus rivalries, assaults and student elections. But by 2013-14, cases involving killings, weapons and interstate movement were changing the nature of his operations. After moving between Punjab and Rajasthan, he allegedly established relationships with people involved in organised criminal activity and started operating through associates rather than only personally participating in confrontations. That model eventually became one of the defining characteristics of the network.

Investigators say senior figures increasingly relied on young recruits, local shooters and remote handlers. Social media and encrypted communications later became tools for recruitment, issuing threats and claiming responsibility for attacks. The National Investigation Agency has separately described the organisation in chargesheets as part of a wider terror-gangster network involving arms procurement, forged documents and operatives working from India and abroad. In May 2026, the NIA filed charges against the 23rd accused in one such case.

Why Jodhpur Became Important

A 2017 extortion case involving a prominent Jodhpur doctor brought the gangster directly into the city. HT reports that associates allegedly fired at the doctor's property and demanded ₹1 crore. The investigation eventually resulted in Bishnoi being brought to Jodhpur and lodged in the city's central jail. That period is important because it coincided with proceedings in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case involving Salman Khan.

According to investigators quoted by HT, Bishnoi spent time in prison with members of the Bishnoi community, for whom the blackbuck carries deep religious and cultural significance.

Police officers interviewed for the report believe that period may have contributed to his growing fixation with the actor, although they acknowledge that this explanation is partly inferential rather than something conclusively established from his own account.

The Blackbuck Case and the First Public Threat

The original wildlife case dates back to 1998, when Khan and other actors were filming Hum Saath Saath Hain near Jodhpur. A trial court convicted Khan in April 2018 of killing two blackbucks at Kankani village and sentenced him to five years in prison. His appeal against that conviction remains before the Rajasthan High Court. Months before that verdict, in January 2018, Bishnoi was brought to a Jodhpur court in connection with a separate case.

It was during that period that he publicly threatened the Bollywood actor. That moment turned what had previously been a criminal career centred largely in north India into a story with national attention. The blackbuck issue subsequently became a recurring theme in threats issued by people claiming association with the network.

Mumbai Attack in 2024 Changed the Threat Level

The situation escalated dramatically in April 2024 when gunmen fired outside Galaxy Apartments in Mumbai's Bandra area, where Salman Khan lives. Mumbai Police arrested several accused allegedly connected to the Bishnoi network, and the criminal case arising from that attack remains before the courts. Security around the actor was subsequently strengthened.

That security now appears relevant to the newest investigation.

Police sources told HT that the suspects in the October 2026 case had conducted reconnaissance around Khan's Bandra home but allegedly concluded that the security presence made him difficult to reach. Investigators have not yet publicly disclosed all evidence supporting that theory, so it should remain attributed to police sources rather than treated as a final finding.

Why Tiger Shroff Became the Target

Police are now examining whether Tiger Shroff was selected after the alleged earlier plan was abandoned. According to investigators, the suspects learnt through social-media posts that the actor regularly played football at a Juhu ground on Sundays and travelled without a police security detail. They allegedly watched his routine and then fired at his vehicle as he left the ground on October 18.

Police have arrested three alleged attackers from Kota in Rajasthan. Separately, Delhi Police arrested four additional suspects, including two women, over allegations that they helped transport a pistol linked to the shooting. The investigation into the weapon supply chain and the handlers behind the attack continues. This is a major development because authorities are now trying to reconstruct not merely the firing itself but the entire operational chain.

Investigators Focus on the Handler

One of the key questions is who was communicating with the shooters before and after the attack. The Indian Express reports that Mumbai Crime Branch officers are examining calls made by one accused, Rehan, who was allegedly speaking to someone through internet-based calling applications shortly before and after the firing. Police suspect that a senior handler may have been directing the operation remotely.

Investigators are also examining whether US-based alleged gang associate Anil Pandit or another senior operative was involved. Pandit's name became prominent because a social-media post and later an audio message attributed to him claimed responsibility for the attack and contained new threats. However, an online claim of responsibility is not by itself proof that the person making it planned or ordered the crime. Police must still establish the communications, money trail, weapons supply and command structure.

Gang Claims Another Warning to Bollywood

The threats issued after the firing broadened the case beyond one actor. A message attributed to Pandit warned people in the film industry about working with or supporting Khan. Another purported audio recording demanded an apology over the blackbuck controversy. Police and security agencies are examining those messages as potential evidence.

Security has also been strengthened around several Bollywood personalities following the Juhu attack. Indian Express reports increased protection around Khan's residence, while other film personalities have reviewed their own security arrangements. It would nevertheless be inaccurate to assume that every threat or attack attributed online to the gang has already been independently proved to be connected.

A Gang That Operates Beyond Its Leader’s Jail Cell

One of the unusual features of the network is that its alleged leader has spent much of the past decade in custody. He is currently lodged in Gujarat's Sabarmati Central Jail. Yet investigating agencies say associates outside prison—including operatives overseas—have continued recruiting people, arranging weapons and coordinating crimes. NIA investigations have described modules helping gang members obtain forged documents, escape India and remain connected with overseas associates. This decentralised structure complicates investigations.

Police may arrest the people who physically carry out an attack while the suspected handler remains abroad or communicates through encrypted platforms. That is now one of the central issues in the Mumbai investigation.

From Punjab to Rajasthan, Mumbai and Overseas

The trajectory of Lawrence Bishnoi illustrates how an organisation can evolve from a regional gang into a much wider criminal network. Punjab provided the early student-politics base.

Rajasthan expanded the network and brought Jodhpur into the story. The conflict surrounding the blackbuck case gave the group national visibility. Mumbai then became increasingly important as people claiming association with the gang issued threats against film personalities and were accused in high-profile attacks.

At the same time, law-enforcement investigations increasingly began pointing towards handlers and associates based outside India. The NIA's terror-gangster investigations show that authorities now view the network as significantly more complex than a conventional local criminal gang.