Shooters behind Indian politician Baba Siddique’s killing claim to be from Lawrence Bishnoi gang: Reports

Indian politician and former minister in the state of Maharashtra Baba Siddique was shot dead by three men in Mumbai’s Bandra on Saturday (Oct 12). Police arrested two of the assailants and the third is on the run.

The two arrested assailants- identified as Karnail Singh from Haryana and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh- claimed during an interrogation that they belonged to the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang, according to media reports on Sunday. 

A report by NDTV said that the police were probing the murder case from two angles- one involving the Bishnoi gang and the other related to a slum rehabilitation case.

The report said that despite the claims of the accused, the Bishnoi gang has not taken responsibility for the murder. Lawrence Bishnoi is currently in custody in Tihar jail.

Bishnoi has been involved in several high-profile cases- including the killing of rapper and Congress leader Sidhu Moosewala. Bishoi has also issued threats to Bollywood actor Salman Khan.

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. 

The NDTV report further said that the involvement of the Bishnoi gang (in Baba Siddique’s murder) was suspected due to the NCP leader’s proximity to Salman Khan. 

However, Siddique did not report any threat from the Bishnoi gang in the past, the police said.

On Saturday, 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.

Doctors at the hospital told reporters that the 66-year-old sustained two gunshot wounds to his chest. Despite extensive resuscitative treatment, Siddique succumbed to his injuries.

“Around 9.30 pm, Baba Siddique was brought here. When he arrived in the emergency room, his pulse and blood pressure were unrecordable, and the ECG showed a flat line. We shifted him to the ICU,” Dr Jalil Parkar, a physician at the hospital, told the news agency ANI.

“He was declared dead around 11.27 pm. He had bullet wounds on his chest,” Dr Parkar added.

The 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. 

(With inputs from agencies)