Baba Siddique Murder Case: Shooters met Bishnoi gang member in Haryana jail, says Mumbai Police

The Mumbai crime branch, investigating the murder of Baba Siddique, revealed that the three men accused of shooting the former minister in Bandra had previously met a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang while incarcerated in a Haryana jail for various offenses.

The two arrested suspects, Gurmail Singh and Dharmaraj Kashyap, appeared in a holiday court on Sunday. Singh was remanded into police custody until October 21. Due to uncertainties surrounding Kashyap's age, the court ordered the police to conduct an ossification test to determine his age before presenting him in court again.

Two additional suspects, Shivkumar Gautam and Mohamed Zeeshan Akhtar, are currently wanted in connection with the case. Gautam is identified as one of the three shooters involved in the Bandra incident, while Akhtar is believed to have orchestrated the contract for Baba Siddique's murder.

The police requested a 14-day custody for the arrested suspects, informing the court that the murder was part of a carefully planned operation. They emphasized the need to investigate whether the accused had intentions to target anyone else, especially with the Maharashtra Assembly elections approaching.

“These accused have stayed in Pune and Mumbai before committing the crime. We have to understand who facilitated the weapon as well as the vehicle used in the crime,” Public Prosecutor Gautam Gaikwad said.

Gaikwad stated that the police have not yet determined the motive behind Baba Siddique's murder or whether any foreign gang was involved. "They targeted Siddique with a clear purpose. We need to investigate if they received any training and who financed the entire operation," the public prosecutor explained.

On the other hand, the defense attorney dismissed the accusations, arguing that the police lack concrete evidence to prove that the two arrested individuals were involved in the crime.

“The deceased person is a famous individual and might have several enemies. So there is a possibility that the police may have falsely implicated them in the crime,” Siddharth Agarwal was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

Police officials revealed that the two suspects had been residing in Kurla for more than a month, renting an apartment for Rs 14,000 per month.

The officers also revealed that the four accused were contracted for an amount between Rs 2.5 to 3 lakh, which they planned to divide among themselves.

Additionally, they noted that the three alleged shooters—Singh, Kashyap, and Gautam—had met while incarcerated, indicating that they had connected with a member of the Bishnoi gang during their time in a Haryana jail, which led to them being assigned the contract to murder Siddique.

To locate the two absconding suspects, police teams have been sent to Pune, Haryana, Delhi, and Ujjain. Officers also said that they recovered two firearms and 28 live rounds from the two men who were arrested.