- Sunday, February 23, 2025
The former Maharashtra minister was gunned down on October 12 near his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Mumbai
By: Shajil Kumar
MUMBAI police investigating the murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique claim the murder weapons were smuggled from Pakistan to Rajasthan using drones, according to media reports.
These guns were later procured by the gangsters to carry out the Siddique assassination. The pictures of the guns have been sent to Rajasthan police, NDTV reports.
Siddique (66) a leader of Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, was gunned down on October 12 near his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Nirmal Nagar in Bandra.
He was reportedly killed by three assailants – Dharmaraj Kashyap (21), Gurnail Singh (23) and Shivkumar Gautam.
The police have arrested Dharmaraj and Gurnail, while Shivkumar is on the run.
Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang has claimed responsibility for the murder. Bishnoi is currently lodged in Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat and his gang reportedly has 700 members spread across the country.
The NIA had recently announced a reward of ₹1 million (£9,170.61) for information leading to the arrest of Anmol Bishnoi, the younger brother of Lawrence Bishnoi.
Anmol is believed to be living in Canada and making regular travels to the US.
Earlier, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had alleged that the Indian government was involving crime syndicates like Bishnoi gang to target Sikh separatists based in Canada.
Based on their investigations, the Mumbai police found that the Siddique assassination plot involved many more people, who carried out the shipment of weapons from Rajasthan to Mumbai, and then hired and bankrolled the sharp-shooters.
They have so far arrested 15 people in connection with Siddique’s murder, while three are on the run.
They include the main shooter Shivkumar, key accused Shubham Lonkar and Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar.
Shubham has links with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and allegedly hatched the murder conspiracy along with Zeeshan Akhtar.
The 15th person to be arrested was Sujit Sushil Singh (32), a resident of Ghatkopar in Mumbai.
He was nabbed on Friday from Ludhiana in Punjab, where he was staying with his relatives.
He fled Mumbai a month before the crime was committed and was linked to Zeeshan Akhtar, the official said.
Police said Sujit and Akhtar used to take instructions from above and passed them on to Nitin Sapre (32) and Ram Kanoujia (43), both of whom have been arrested.
Crime branch officials also traced Sujit’s financial transactions with Kanoujia and Sapre, the official said.
The money was given to the alleged shooters and others involved in the crime, he added.
Kanoujia, who was arrested last week, was part of the group that allegedly provided firearms and logistical support to the shooters.
He and Bhagwat Singh Om Singh, had gone to Rajasthan to collect the foreign-made pistols.
Meanwhile, a pistol and three bullets were recovered from Kanoujia’s rented house in Panvel town in neighbouring Raigad district, the crime branch official said.
The other arrested accused include Harish Kumar Nisad (26), Pravin Lonkar (30), Sambhaji Kisan Pardhi (44), Pradeep Dattu Thombre (37), and Chetan Dilip Pardhi (43). (Agencies)
