Baba Siddique murder updates: Third accused identified, to be arrested soon

The Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch said on Sunday (Oct 13) that it had identified the third accused in connection with the murder of Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique. The third accused is Shiv Kumar Gautam, a resident of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The crime branch said that Gautam would be arrested soon.

The police had earlier arrested the two accused- Karnail Singh from Haryana and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh. As per reports, Singh and Kashyap claimed that they belonged to the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Hours after the above claim, a Facebook post by a gang member claimed that said that they targeted Siddique because of his close ties to Bollywood actor Salman Khan and alleged links to underworld figures like Dawood Ibrahim.

However, the police are verifying the authenticity of this Facebook post. 

On Sunday, the Crime Branch also revealed that a total of six rounds of bullets were fired at Siddique, out of which three hit him. Earlier, doctors at the Lilavati Hospital (where Siddique was admitted) claimed that the politician sustained two gunshot wounds to his chest.

> Baba Siddique, 66, was a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)- Ajit Pawar faction. He was a member of Congress and resigned from the party earlier this year. He was known to be close to several Bollywood stars. 

> Siddique was attacked outside his son and politician Zeeshan’s office near the Colgate Ground in Nirmal Nagar, Bandra East. He was brought to the Lilavati Hospital for treatment where he succumbed to his injuries.

> The three accused shooters had done recce of Siddique’s house and office premises, and they were in Mumbai for a few months to keep an eye on him. 

> Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced on Sunday that Siddique would be cremated with full state honours as the former minister in the state.

> Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that five teams have been formed and sent to different states to probe the killing and it would be known in 2-3 days who was behind the incident.

> Siddique’s murder has triggered a political slugfest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition parties in the country.

> Opposition leaders including Congress’ Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Maharashtra government over a collapse of law and order in the state.

> “The tragic demise of Baba Siddique is shocking and saddening. My thoughts are with his family in this difficult time. This horrifying incident exposes the complete collapse of law and order in Maharashtra. The government must take responsibility, and justice must prevail,” Gandhi said in a post on X.

> Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) national convener and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “People of not only Maharashtra but the entire country are scared of the incident of NCP leader being shot dead in public in Mumbai.”

> Ajit Pawar urged political parties and others to stop politicising Siddique’s murder. “This is not a time for division or for exploiting the pain of others for political advantage. Right now, our focus must be on ensuring that justice is served,” Pawar said.

> The mother of the accused Shiv Kumar Gautam told the news agency ANI, “He went to Pune to work in a scrapyard. I knew only this. I was not aware of what he was doing in Mumbai…He came home in Holi. After that, he did not come. He was not talking to me even on calls so I cannot say anything about the incident. His age is around 18-19 years…”

> Meanwhile, accused Dharamraj Kashyap’s mother said, “Two months ago, he went to work in a scrapyard. He went to Pune. We have contacted only once since then…”

(With inputs from agencies)