Tiger Shroff News: Mumbai’s underworld once had its own roster of gunmen. Men such as Maya Dolas and Firoz Konkani grew out of the city’s criminal networks, their names becoming synonymous with gang rivalries and targeted killings. Today, investigations into a string of high-profile shootings in the city are leading police to young men from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, allegedly recruited to carry out individual hits.The firing at actor Tiger Shroff’s car in Juhu on October 18 is the latest case to raise these questions. Police arrested three men from Kota, Rajasthan. Media reports have identified two as being from Haryana and the third as a native of Bihar living in Mumbai, though details of their backgrounds have varied.Police are yet to establish how they were recruited, who arranged the attack, and whether it was linked to an established gang.The city’s own gunmenMumbai’s underworld grew around smuggling, illicit liquor, protection rackets and extortion. By the 1980s, rivalries between gangs were increasingly being settled through shootings. Gunmen often emerged from the same neighbourhoods and criminal networks as the gang leaders they served.Maya Dolas began his criminal career with Ashok Joshi’s gang in the eastern suburbs before becoming associated with the Dawood Ibrahim network. He was killed in the 1991 Lokhandwala shootout. Dilip Buwa, another shooter linked to Joshi before switching sides, was part of the same world of shifting gang loyalties.On September 6, 1983, David Pardesi, then 20 and from Tilak Nagar in Chembur, shot Pathan gang member Amirzada Nawab Khan inside the Mumbai Sessions Court. An account published later by India Today said Dawood had asked Bada Rajan to arrange the killing and that Pardesi was paid Rs 50,000. Pardesi was wounded and arrested at the scene.Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria, in his book When It All Began: The Untold Stories of the Underworld, recounts how Munna Bhanwarlal Gupta alias Manoj Gupta gained access to Pathan gang member Abdul Majid before killing him in 1986.Story continues below this adFiroz Konkani and the local networkFiroz Abdullah Sarguroh, known as Firoz Konkani, grew up in Dongri and entered crime as a teenager. Police accounts linked his early criminal associations and jail contacts to the Dawood network. He was accused in the 1994 killing of BJP MLA Ramdas Nayak and was believed to have been killed in Karachi in 2003.Tanya Koli, a known shooter associated with Arun Gawli, was killed on September 17, 1993, while being taken by train to Amravati Jail after a court hearing. The killing was attributed to the rivalry involving the Naik brothers. Ashwin Naik was shot outside the sessions court in 1995 and left paralysed.Yusuf Kadri alias Yusuf Bachkana, who grew up in a chawl near Falkland Road, and Umed Sheikh alias Umed Ur Rehman were among the shooters associated with the Chhota Rajan network.These men were part of the city’s underworld and its local rivalries.Story continues below this adJJ Hospital: Outsiders in a gang warOn September 12, 1992, armed men entered J J Hospital and opened fire on Shailesh Haldankar, an associate of rival Arun Gawli, who was under arrest and being guarded by police. Haldankar was suspected by Dawood’s gang of helping identify Dawood’s brother-in-law, Ibrahim Parkar, who had been killed in July that year.The attackers killed Haldankar and two police personnel, Head Constable Gajanan Javsen and Constable Kawalsingh Bhanawat, and injured six others.Among the main accused was Subhash Singh Thakur, from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Thakur later said Dawood associate Sunil Sawant had summoned him to Mumbai and arranged accommodation in Juhu. The attack involved reconnaissance before the shooting. Subhash Singh Thakur, one of the accused in the 1992 JJ Hospital shooting case. (Express photos)This was the first major case that showed gangs were bringing in men from other states for specific operations.Story continues below this adAbu Salem’s recruits from AzamgarhAbu Salem, who came from Sarai Meer in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district, was also reported to have recruited young men from his home region for contract killings.Contemporary media accounts reported that Salem recruited men with clean records, brought them to Mumbai, gave them money, weapons and photographs of targets, and sent them home after the job. The model allowed the people carrying out a hit to remain at a distance from those allegedly directing it.Kala Ghoda: The role of intermediariesThe October 16, 2006, Kala Ghoda shootout, one of the most infamous killings in which police informer Amjad Khan and Himanshu Chowdhary were killed while returning from a court hearing, was investigated in the context of underworld rivalry and links to Chhota Rajan.Osama Khan and Zafar Khan were accused of involvement in the killings and were reported to be from Uttar Pradesh. The killing was particularly shocking because of the location right outside the city court and the intended target, Amjad Khan, a close associate and informer of a well-known encounter specialist.Story continues below this adThe Lawrence Bishnoi modusIn recent cases allegedly linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi network, the bulk of the accused persons are drawn from different states.In the April 2024 firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence, Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, reportedly from Bihar’s Champaran region, were arrested in Gujarat. Police alleged that they acted on the instructions of Anmol Bishnoi.In the October 2024 murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique, suspected shooters Shivkumar Gautam and Dharmaraj Kashyap were from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, while Gurmail Singh was from Kaithal in Haryana. Police also named Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar from Punjab and Shubham Lonkar from Maharashtra as alleged links in the network.The February 2026 firing at filmmaker Rohit Shetty’s residence led to arrests in Pune, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Police alleged that the operation involved people performing different roles, including shooting and logistical support. A subsequent chargesheet named 17 accused, including two who were wanted.Story continues below this adA February 2026 report by The Indian Express said young men with little or no criminal record were allegedly being mobilised through social media and local intermediaries. Some were said to have been drawn by the gang’s online image. Investigators have also faced difficulties tracing digital communications and social media posts that are later deleted.In the Tiger Shroff case, investigators still have to establish who recruited the suspects, who arranged the motorcycle and weapons, whether reconnaissance was conducted, and whether any social media claim of responsibility can be linked to the accused or a wider criminal network.