Baba Siddique murder case: Killers watched YouTube for shooting practice, says Mumbai Police

Shooters who killed Baba Siddique, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra minister, used YouTube to practise shooting. Two of the four accused in the case arrested so far -- Gurmail Singh and Dharamaraj Kashyap -- learned to shoot by watching videos on YouTube, NDTV reported citing sources within the Mumbai Police. 

The two accused -- Gurmail Singh and Dharamaraj Kashyap -- were arrested hours after they fired 6 rounds at the NCP politician. The Mumbai Police is trying to find about the location the shooters used to practice at, NDTV mentioned. 

The suspected shooters of Siddique made more than 10 failed attempts to kill him near Bandra in the past month. "They were told to kill Siddique near his son's office in Kherwadi since it's an open area," a senior police officer said. 

The officer added that the suspects did not get a chance to open fire on him on those occasions because at times, Siddique did not turn up. He said even when Siddique came, they were forced to abandon the plan because he was surrounded by his supporters. 

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police on Tuesday arrested a fourth suspect, Harishkumar Balakram, from Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich in connection with the Baba Siddique murder case. Balakram was arrested on charges of being involved in the conspiracy to take down the NCP politician, including providing money and logistical support to the shooters. 

The 23-year-old Balakram worked as a scrap dealer in Pune. He is the fourth suspect to be arrested in connection with the case after 23-year-old Gurmail Baljit Singh and 19-year-old Dharamaraj Kashyap -- the shooters -- as well as Pravin Lonkar, a Pune-based co-conspirator. 

Harishkumar Balakram's scrap shop was used by Dharmaraj Kashyap and Shivprasad Gautam, whom he financially supported and provided with a rented house in Mumbai’s Kurla and a bike.

Balakram knew about Baba Siddique’s murder and even bought new mobiles for Gautam and Kashyap before the crime. Police recovered two pistols—one Glock and one country-made—from two arrested suspects.

Another individual detained in the case is Dharamaraj Kashyap's brother Anurag Kashyap. Gurmail Singh and Dharmaraj Kashyap are in police custody till October 21. However, three others—Shubham Lonkar, Shiv Kumar Gautam, and Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar—are still on the run.

On the night of October 12, three people shot Baba Siddique outside his MLA-son Zeeshan Siddique's office in Bandra. Later, Siddique was rushed to Lilavati Hospital, where he was declared dead. 

He was laid to rest the next day with state honours and his funeral was attended by many political leaders as well as the who's who from Bollywood.