The Mumbai crime branch on Friday arrested five more persons were in connection with the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique, taking the total number of arrests in the case to 9.Those arrested were sent to police custody till October 25 by a Metropolitan Magistrate court in Mumbai.The arrests were made after the police, based on specific information, carried out raids in Karjat, Dombivli and Navi Mumbai.According to the police, the five were in touch with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which is suspected of being behind the murder of Siddique.
“The total number of arrests in the case now stands at nine. Further probe is underway,” an unidentified police officer was quoted as saying by PTI.Baba Siddique (66), a former Congress leader who had joined the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party earlier this year, was shot dead by three persons in Mumbai’s Nirmal Nagar area on October 12. The shooting took place outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office.Police have so far arrested four persons, including Haryana resident Gurmail Baljit Singh (23), Uttar Pradesh native Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19), both alleged shooters, Harishkumar Balakram Nisad (23), and “co-conspirator” Pravin Lonkar, who hails from Pune.
It is suspected that it was Pravin Lonkar’s brother, Shubham Lonkar, who wrote on Facebook that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang was behind Siddique’s murder. He is currently absconding.Notably, Shubham Lonkar was earlier questioned by the police in June in connection with firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence in Bandra, an incident allegedly linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang network. He was out on bail.
The police have also seized three weapons – a high-end Australian-made Glock pistol, a Turkish pistol and a countrymade pistol – which have been sent to the forensic laboratory to match with the bullets found in Baba Siddique’s body.
With thanks from HT
