Anil Pandit, who had no significant criminal record before leaving India in 2023, is now suspected of operating from California and helping the Lawrence Bishnoi gang coordinate extortion demands and attacks on celebrities and businessmen in India, Delhi Police said Monday.
After the Sunday incident, Pandit and his associate Harman Sandhu released audio messages and social media posts claiming responsibility for the attack and issuing warnings to members of the film industry against associating with certain people or defying the syndicate, police officers said. Gunmen opened fire outside the establishment, and Pandit allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack on social media. He has also been linked to a targeted shooting involving Haryanvi singer Diler Kharkia’s vehicle in Bhiwani, Haryana. Investigators suspect that the attack was intended as a warning after extortion demands or instructions were allegedly ignored.
Pandit has also been linked by investigators to the June 2026 firing outside 24HS Fitness, a gym owned by Punjabi singer Guru Randhawa in Delhi’s West Delhi area.
The alleged shooter was arrested by the Delhi Police Crime Branch in coordination with the Sonipat Special Task Force, according to police officers.
Police said he’s now wanted in more than 12 cases of extortion in Haryana. Pandit, a resident of Rai Kalan village in Haryana’s Panipat district, left India around 2023 and had no significant criminal record, according to the crime branch. The actor was inside the car when three assailants came in front of his car and fired at him. Shroff escaped unhurt, but his driver and a fan, who was near the car, suffered bullet injuries. The actor rushed his driver to the hospital after the men fled on a bike.
Police said that he has become involved in coordinating criminal activities from abroad since leaving the country Pandit, who’s in his early 30s, has claimed responsibility on social media for firing at actor Tiger Shroff’s car in Mumbai’s Juhu on Sunday evening.
