Baba Siddique, the former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader was shot dead on Saturday evening outside his son’s office in Mumbai’s Bandra area. Three masked men ambushed Siddique during Dussehra celebrations when firecrackers were being set off.
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Baba Siddique was rushed to Lilavati Hospital immediately after the attack, where doctors confirmed his death from two gunshot wounds.
According to Dr. Nitin Gokhale, Siddique had no pulse and blood pressure upon arrival and he was declared dead at 11:27 pm.
Police confirmed that a total of six rounds were fired at Baba Siddique, three of which hit him. Initial reports from doctors indicated that two of the bullets struck his chest. The attack was executed near the Colgate Ground, close to the politician’s son’s office.
Two suspects were arrested shortly after the incident, Karnail Singh from Haryana and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh.
Both of them claimed to be affiliated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, a criminal organization responsible for multiple killings.
The Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch has identified a third suspect, Shiv Kumar Gautam, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, who is expected to be arrested soon.
The arrested suspects claimed allegiance to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Hours after the arrests, a Facebook post allegedly from a gang member surfaced claiming that Siddique was targeted due to his close ties to Bollywood actor Salman Khan and rumored connections to underworld figures like Dawood Ibrahim.
The police are currently investigating the authenticity of this post to determine its validity in relation to the murder case.
The three accused including the yet-to-be-arrested Shiv Kumar Gautam, had allegedly conducted a recce of Siddique’s house and office in the months leading up to the murder.
According to reports, the suspects had been residing in Mumbai for several months to monitor Siddique’s movements and plan the attack.
The Mumbai Police arrested three individuals involved in the murder of Baba Siddique. Two of them, Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap and Gurmail Baljit Singh were apprehended at the crime scene, while the third suspect, Pravin Lonkar was arrested later.
The police identified three shooters involved in the attack Dharmaraj Kashyap, Gurmail Singh and Shiv Kumar. While Kashyap and Singh were caught, Kumar managed to flee and is still on the run.
Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap and Shiv Kumar, both natives of Uttar Pradesh worked as scrap workers. Kashyap had no prior criminal record, while Shiv Kumar was a laborer who had moved to Maharashtra several years ago and was employed in a scrap shop in Pune.
Pravin Lonkar, one of the arrested suspects ran a dairy near the same scrap shop where Shiv and Dharmaraj worked. His brother Shubham Lonkar made a social media post after the murder, claiming responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
Among the arrested individuals, Gurmail Baljit Singh has a criminal past. He was arrested in a murder case back in 2019 but was later released on bail.
His family has since disowned him, with his grandmother stating that he had cut ties with the family long ago and had not returned home since his release from jail three months ago.
Shiv Kumar is now implicated in the assassination and it is believed that he was the one who fired the fatal shots at Siddique. He reportedly invited Dharmaraj to Maharashtra for work and eventually got involved in the murder plot.
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The Lawrence Bishnoi gang is believed to be behind the murder. The gang has previously made headlines for threatening Bollywood actor Salman Khan, accusing him of killing a blackbuck, which is sacred to the Bishnoi community.
Shubham Lonkar, Pravin Lonkar’s brother made a bold claim on social media, stating that the murder was carried out on behalf of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
However, the police have not yet confirmed this connection and are still investigating the authenticity of the claim.
There are growing suspicions that the murder was a contract killing with the killers being paid Rs 50,000 each. The police are probing the involvement of gangsters and contract killers in the assassination.
Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar, a 21-year-old resident of Jalandhar, Punjab, is believed to be the mastermind behind the murder. He has seven criminal cases registered against him and was lodged in Patiala jail until his release on June 7, 2024.
While in prison, Akhtar reportedly came into contact with members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, who allegedly contracted him to orchestrate the murder of Baba Siddique.
After being released from jail, Akhtar met with Gurmail Singh in Haryana and arranged a room for Shiv, Dharmaraj and Gurmail in Mumbai.
It is suspected that he was directing the attackers during the murder and was in Mumbai at the time of the killing. The police are searching for him.
According to police sources, the attackers had been planning the assassination for over two months. They had tracked Siddique’s movements and rented a room in Mumbai’s Kurla area on September 2, paying Rs 14,000 in monthly rent.
The murder weapons including a 9.9 mm pistol were delivered to the killers just days before the attack via a prepaid courier service.
The killers timed their attack to coincide with the noise of firecrackers during Dussehra, allowing them to shoot at Siddique without immediate detection.
Six rounds were fired during the attack, with two bullets hitting Baba Siddique. The remaining bullets struck the windshield of his vehicle confirming that multiple shots were fired at close range.
Just 15 days before the murder, Baba Siddique had received a death threat. As a result, he was provided with Y category security, but this failed to prevent the attack.
The police are also investigating how the attackers were able to bypass Siddique’s security detail and whether there was any inside information about his whereabouts on the day of the murder.
While Dharmaraj and Gurmail were caught at the scene, the police are still searching for Shiv Kumar and Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar.
Assistance from Uttar Pradesh police has been sought to locate the absconding attackers. A total of four suspects are believed to have been involved in the murder with one suspect reportedly relaying information about Siddique’s movements to the killers.
The police are currently trying to identify this individual. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has vowed to bring the case to a fast-track court to ensure that justice is delivered swiftly.
He confirmed that two suspects have already been arrested and expressed confidence that the remaining accused would be apprehended soon.
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