Rohit Shetty firing case: Accused used 'Signal' app to coordinate attack, says Mumbai police

Five arrested accused are brought to the Killa court. PIC/ATUL KAMBLE

In the filmmaker Rohit Shetty firing incident, the investigation officers have found that the main accused - Shubham Lonkar - was using the ‘Signal' application to chat with the shooters. The ‘Signal' application is used for private chats, as per police officials.

A police officer said, "We found that the accused were using the Signal app to chat with each other, and after the firing, all deleted the app from their phones. With this app, they were also in touch with the main accused - Lonkar, a gang member of the Bishnoi gang. We are retrieving all the chats and taking help from the cyber experts."

Filmmaker Rohit Shetty. FILE PIC/ASHISH RAJE

The Mumbai Police have intensified their probe into the firing incident outside filmmaker Shetty's residence, with the Crime Branch's Anti-Extortion Cell arresting another accused linked to the supply of the weapon used in the attack.

The Anti-Extortion Cell also recovered a revolver, three magazines, and one airgun from Lonkar's house in Pune while arresting one more accused identified as Aasaram Shrirang Fasle, 42, a resident of Malwadi in Pune. Police have so far arrested five people in the case. Aditya Gayaki, Siddharth Yenpure, Samarth Pomaji, and Swapnil Sakat were arrested on Sunday. The fifth accused, Asaram Fasale, was taken into custody on Thursday.

Officials said that all five accused were produced before the Esplanade court (Killa court) on Thursday, and they were remanded in police custody until February 11. The firing incident took place around 12.45 am on Sunday at Shetty's nine-storey residential building in Mumbai's Juhu area.