Shootout in Mumbai filmcity, one injured

Gang war seemed to enter the Filmcity in Mumbai on Friday when two men on motorbike shot at a security contractor. The incident took place very close to the spot where actor Amitabh Bachchan was shooting.

This is the first-of-its-kind incident inside the Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagiri at Goregaon, popularly known as the Filmcity, and is run by the Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation.

The victim, Raju Shinde (45), is in a critical condition at the Nanavati Hospital.The incident occurred at around 2 pm near the gate located off the Aarey Colony. The assailants fired three rounds of which two hit Shinde’s abdomen, while one grazed his arm. Shinde is the secretary of the Shiv Sena’s film wing Chitrapat Sena.

Bachchan tweeted initially saying that the victim was dead, but later corrected the tweet. In the first tweet, he said: “The 1873 - Okay !! Shooting at Film City .. and a gang war shootout 20 feet from where we are ... !!1 dead .. cops all over ..”

In the next tweet, he said: “T 1873 - Correction : in gang shoot out where I was shooting in Film City person shot at is NOT dead . He has been taken to hospital ..”ACP Fatehsinh Patil said the assailants arrived on a motorbike and fired at least three shots at Shrikant alias Raju Shinde from a close range. 

“We are exploring the case from various angles, but we are not ruling out personal rivalry,” the police said, adding that the possible role of the underworld is also being looked into. 

Shinde also operates a cable television network, is into construction, supplies timber to film sets and does social work.