Baba Siddique (PTI photo)
Three men were arrested in connection with the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique, but the key suspect, Shivkumar Gautam, remains absconding and holds vital information about the plan.
The Mumbai Police have arrested three people – Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap, Gurmail Baljit Singh, and Pravin Lonkar, in connection with the murder case of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique. However, Shivkumar Gautam, the person who fired shots, remains absconding and apparently holds the key to who gave out the orders to kill Siddique.
The three accused – Dharmaraj, Gurmail Singh, and Shivkumar, were at the venue to shoot Baba Siddique. Shivkumar was the one who led the two others to fire shots at Siddique.
According to the group’s plan, Dharmaraj and Gurmail were supposed to fire shots at the NCP leader. However, Shivkumar changed the plan and fired shots himself, after he saw the presence of a heavy police force around Siddique.
He had also ordered Dharmaraj and Gurmail to fire and flee.
During the attack, Shivkumar fired six rounds at Siddique, out of which two hit him.
Soon after, the three ran to escape arrest. While Dharmaraj and Gurmail were caught, Shivkumar, who hid in the crowd, threw chilli powder in the eyes of some police personnel in Siddiqui’s safety and fled.
He remains absconding.
During investigations, it was revealed that Dharmaraj and Gurmail had not fired shots with the pistols they carried and that all shots were fired by Shivkumar.
It was also revealed that the two also kept chilli powder with them.
SHIVKUMAR COULD HAVE KEY INFO
Dharmaraj and Gurmail told the police that did not have information on who gave the orders to shoot Siddique.
Meanwhile, the police are on the lookout for Shivkumar, who remains the only person to have information about the orders.
Sixty-six-year-old Siddique, a former Maharashtra minister who joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in February this year after quitting the Congress, was waylaid by three men at Kher Nagar in Mumbai’s Bandra area just outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office and shot dead on the night of October 12.
WHO IS PRAVIN LONKAR?
Twenty-eight-year-old Praving Lonkar was arrested by the police from Pune on Sunday night. According to the police, Lonkar, along with his brother, Shubham Lonkar, had “enlisted” Dharmaraj and Shivkumar.
It was also revealed that Lonkar had sheltered the other three accused in Pune.
The police referred to Lonkar as a “co-conspirator”, and said they were also on the lookout for his brother.
An official told news agency PTI that the police went to Pune looking for Shubham Lonkar but did not find him there. They then nabbed his brother Pravin for his alleged involvement in the crime.
The Mumbai police were also verifying a social media post, attributed to a purported member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, owning up to the murder of Siddique.
According to the details, the particular post was put out by one of the Lonkar brothers. However, there was no official confirmation on the same yet.
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