Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Feb 11: The five individuals arrested in connection with the firing incident outside filmmaker Rohit Shetty’s Juhu residence have now been booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999. The accused were produced before a special MCOCA court after their earlier police custody ended on Wednesday.

The special court remanded all five accused to police custody until February 17, 2026. Although the Mumbai Crime Branch had requested 15 days of further custody, the court granted remand only until the specified date. MCOCA, enacted in 1999, is a state law designed to curb organised crime and terrorism in Maharashtra.

According to the Mumbai Crime Branch, the alleged mastermind, absconding accused Shubham Lonkar, intended to create panic in Mumbai and had instructed the arrested individuals to execute a major act in the city. Investigators informed the court that Lonkar maintained contact with the accused through a single messaging application and had transferred Rs 40,000 to the bank account of one of them.

Police further stated that Shubham Lonkar had provided three firearms to his brother, Praveen Lonkar, who subsequently passed one of the weapons to those arrested in the Rohit Shetty firing case.

For context, five rounds were fired outside Rohit Shetty’s residence in Juhu. The Crime Branch investigation revealed that the vehicle used in the incident had been brought from Pune.

The vehicle reportedly belonged to a Pune resident who had sold it to one of the arrested accused, Aditya Gayki, for Rs 30,000 just days before the incident. Gayki, along with another accused, Samarth Pomaji, allegedly left the vehicle at a predetermined location in Mumbai’s Juhu area.

Investigators said the individuals who procured and transported the vehicle to Mumbai were unaware of the identity of the shooter. It was allegedly Shubham Lonkar who instructed the gunman to collect the vehicle from the designated spot and carry out the firing.