Mumbai:

After meeting with Joint Commissioner of Crime Branch of Mumbai Police Lakhmi Gautam, Nationalist Congress Party leader and son of former MLA and NCP leader Baba Siddique, Zeeshan Siddiqui on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction over the investigation in his father’s murder and said that the law and order have been made a joke in Mumbai.

“I had given the names of those whom I suspect in my statement. When I asked if all of them had been questioned, I was told that they had not been questioned. When I asked the police why the statements of those builders were not recorded, they did not give me a satisfactory answer. Seeing this, I feel that law and order are being made a joke in Mumbai. This is not a fair investigation, for I will now meet our leader and Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar. I will also meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was my father’s friend. I hope I will get justice. I will take every possible step that I feel is right to get justice,” said Zeeshan Siddiqui while speaking to the media.

“After my father was killed, it was said that Bishnoi had done it. Why was this narrative set? I am not denying this but if it has been done by the Bishnoi gang, then the accused must be brought back to India. This is condemnable,” he added.

Notably, Baba Siddique was an NCP leader who was shot dead by three assailants near his son, MLA Zeeshan Siddique’s, office in Mumbai’s Nirmal Nagar on October 12.

The Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for the NCP leader’s murder.

Mumbai Police’s investigation into the Baba Siddiqui murder case has revealed that prime suspect Akashdeep Gill, arrested in Punjab, used a labourer’s mobile hotspot to communicate with key conspirators, including mastermind Anmol Bishnoi, police said.

Gill was identified as the logistics coordinator in the murder plot orchestrated by notorious gangster Anmol Bishnoi.

According to the information received from a senior officer of the Mumbai Crime Branch, the investigation of the Mumbai Crime Branch has revealed that after the murder of Baba Siddiqui, a big leader of Pune was also on the radar of the Bishnoi gang.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Zeeshan Siddique, the NCP candidate from Bandra East, voted today in the Maharashtra Assembly elections and said that it was the first time he came to a polling booth without his father Baba Siddique. Mr Siddique, a prominent NCP leader and former minister, was gunned down on October 12 near his son’s office by attackers allegedly linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

“For the first time, I have come alone to vote. My father is no more. This is different but this will have to be done. I know that my father is with me. I started my day by visiting the graveyard in the morning…I think everyone must vote,” Zeeshan Siddique said. 

#WATCH | “For the first time, I have come alone to vote. My father (Baba Siddiqui) is no more. This is different but this will have to be done”: Zeeshan Siddique

Video courtesy: ANI/X#Babasiddique#ZeeshanSiddique#MaharahstraElection2024pic.twitter.com/Ibfs5dWvWR

— NDTV (@ndtv) November 20, 2024

The 32-year-old former Congress leader faces Varun Sardesai, Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackeray’s nephew, in a high-stakes battle in Bandra East. Zeeshan Siddique joined the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the NCP in October. Mr Siddique will defend the Bandra East seat he won in the 2019 election when he was with the Congress.

Maharashtra’s single-phase assembly elections saw polling begin at 7 am across 288 constituencies, with voting set to conclude at 6 pm. Over 9.7 crore voters are registered to choose among 4,136 candidates contesting this year, marking a 28 per cent rise from 2019’s 3,239 candidates.

The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance and the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) are vying for control of the assembly. The Mahayuti includes the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction), while the MVA brings together the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction).

Key figures in the elections include Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, contesting from Baramati against his nephew Yugendra Pawar, marking another compelling electoral contest.

Chandigarh:

A Fazilka-based person was held by Punjab Police in a joint operation with the Maharashtra Police in connection with the murder of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, a top police officer said on Saturday.

Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said the accused has been identified as Akash Gill, a native of Pakka Chishti of Fazilka district in Punjab.

“Preliminary investigation reveals the arrested accused is an associate of Lawrence Bishnoi Gang and was providing logistical assistance to the shooters involved in the murder of Baba Siddiqui,” Yadav said in a post on X.

Gill has been handed over to the Mumbai Police for further investigations, he said.

Anti-Gangster Task Force Additional Director General of Police Promod Ban said the local police have been working closely with the Mumbai Police in the Baba Siddiqui murder case.

Gill, whose alleged involvement came to the fore during the investigation, was arrested by the teams from the AGTF and the Mumbai Crime Branch from Sulemanki Road in Fazilka, he said.

Siddique, 66, was shot dead by three people on a public road in Kher Nagar in Mumbai’s Bandra area on October 12. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

The plan to assassinate former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique was conceived just 10 days after the shooting incident outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s residence on April 14, Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch sources have said. 

Two men on motorbikes fired multiple rounds outside Mr Khan’s residence in Bandra in April, leading to the arrest of several individuals. Sources revealed that following the incident, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang sought to target individuals close to the actor. Baba Siddique, a close friend of Salman Khan, emerged as a prime target. 

Investigations have revealed the gang’s reliance on “dabba calling,” an illegal telephone exchange system, to coordinate the murder. “Dabba Calling” is a term likely derived from the use of a secondary phone (dabba) to issue threats. Anmol Bishnoi, Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother, allegedly used this system extensively to instruct key operatives, including Shiv Kumar Gautam, Zeeshan Akhtar, Shubham Lonkar, and Sujit Singh.

The gang had established its own telecommunication hub. This network ensured real-time coordination during the crime while shielding the conspirators from police tracking.

Baba Siddique, aged 66, was gunned down near his son and MLA Zeeshan Siddique’s Bandra office on October 12. According to Crime Branch sources, Shiv Kumar Gautam, believed to be the lead shooter, lingered at the crime scene for 20 minutes post-attack.

Gautam discarded a bag containing his pistol, shirt, and Aadhaar card before blending into the panicked crowd. Witnessing the chaos and police presence, he took further steps to avoid detection, including changing his clothes and returning to the scene to gauge the situation.

Later, Gautam reportedly boarded an autorickshaw and headed to Lilavati Hospital to confirm Mr Siddique’s death. At 10:47 pm, he left for Kurla railway station, discarding his mobile phone en route to eliminate potential evidence. Authorities are still working to recover the device.

Further probing revealed that Shubham Lonkar, another suspect, had undergone weapons training in the dense forests near Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, in July. Crime Branch officials suspect that Lonkar’s training, involving an AK-47, was facilitated by Maoists, though this connection remains under investigation. 

Shiv Kumar Gautam, the main accused in the murder case of former minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique, revealed that after the firing, he stood outside the Lilavati Hospital – where the politician was taken – to ascertain if Mr Siddique died or survived the attack, the police said.

The shooter, who quickly changed his shirt after the firing, told the police that he stood outside the hospital for 30 minutes among the crowd. He left as soon he came to know that Mr Siddique’s condition was very critical.

Mr Siddique, 66, was shot dead in Mumbai’s Bandra on October 12 at 9:11 pm, the police said. He sustained two bullet injuries on his chest and was rushed to the Lilavati Hospital, where he passed away.

According to the accused, as per the initial plan, he was supposed to meet his aides – Dharmaraj Kashyap and Gurmail Singh at the Ujjain railway station – where a member of the Bishnoi gang was to take them to Vaishno Devi.

However, the plan failed as Kashyap and Singh were caught by the police.

How police arrested the main accused

Four friends of the main accused, whose late-night conversations on mobile phones raised suspicions, played a key role in helping the Mumbai police track down Gautam – who was arrested on Sunday.

The Mumbai Crime Branch and the Uttar Pradesh Police Special Task Force (STF) arrested Gautam along with Anurag Kashyap, Gyan Prakash Tripathi, Akash Srivastava and Akhilendra Pratap Singh near the Nepal border.

According to the police, the investigation was triggered by suspicious activities of Gautam’s four friends, who were spotted purchasing clothes in various sizes and planning to meet him in a remote forest. They were in constant touch with Gautam via internet calls on mobile phones – which were purchased in Lucknow, reported PTI.

The four aides were planning to assist the main accused in fleeing the country, the police said.

Gautam, after the firing, went to Kurla from the crime scene, boarded a local train to Thane, and then fled to Pune – where he reportedly dumped his mobile phone. He stayed in Pune for around seven days and then travelled to Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi and Lucknow.

On Sunday, Gautam was found hiding in the hamlet of 10 to 15 hutments, around 10 km from Nanpara, a town in Uttar Pradesh.

New Delhi:

Lawrence Bishnoi, the alleged mastermind behind the killings of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique and Punjabi singer-politician Sidhu Moose Wala, was arrested for the first time about 13 years ago when he set fire to some vehicles in Chandigarh after a fight with a student leader.

Bishnoi, who was involved in student politics at Panjab University back then, was in police custody for a day, former Chandigarh inspector Amanjot Singh told NDTV on Tuesday.

A son of a police constable in Punjab, he was only 18 when he set vehicles parked outside Sector 11 in Chandigarh on fire, the officer said.

“He was very innocent at that time. When the police used to arrest him, he sometimes called the officials uncle or sir,” Mr Singh said.

“He did whatever his party leadership told him,” Mr Singh said, adding that he “never thought” that Bishnoi would become “such a big gangster”.

ALSO READ | Lawrence Bishnoi Has 700 Shooters On Call. How He Operates From Jail

Mr Singh, who arrested the 31-year-old dreaded gangster numerous times, said that when Bishnoi was arrested for the sixth time, he had said that the “police of 7-8 states will search” for him.

Lawrence Bishnoi first grabbed headlines when he publicly threatened to kill Bollywood actor Salman Khan in 2018, accusing him of allegedly poaching two blackbuck antelopes – a revered animal for Rajasthan’s Bishnoi community to which he belongs.

During a court appearance in Jodhpur, Bishnoi said, “We will kill Salman Khan. Everyone will know once we take action.”

Incidentally, Baba Siddique, who was shot dead by three persons in Mumbai last month, was known to be Salman Khan’s close friend.

Bishnoi is also the prime accused in the murder of Sidhu Moose Wala, who was shot dead in Punjab in 2022.

“Lawrence Bishnoi Transformed In Jail”

Mr Singh said that Lawrence Bishnoi initially worked on his party leadership’s instructions but later “transformed” in the jail.

“Initially, he kept working on his party leadership’s instructions. But when he kept going to jail, his transformation happened very fast. He came in contact with big gangsters and his influence kept increasing,” he said.

ALSO READ | “We Stand With Lawrence Bishnoi”: Jailed Gangster’s Family Breaks Silence

“When he kept going to jail again and again, there were some prisoners in the jail, who had committed big crimes, who felt that there was something special about Bishnoi. They then started using him,” Mr Singh said.

They took him under their protection because they knew that Bishnoi was going to get bail, he added.

Lawrence Bishnoi Met His “Mentor” Rocky Fazilka In Jail

Lawrence Bishnoi considered gangster Ranjit Jasvinder Singh, alias Rocky Fazilka, as his mentor, Amanjot Singh said.

“When Lawrence Bishnoi went to Banda jail in Uttar Pradesh, he met another gangster Ranjit Singh “Dupla”, who was very close to Rocky Fazilka. He was the one who introduced him to Fazilka,” Mr Singh said.

ALSO READ | “Wanted Canada To Extradite Bishnoi Gang Members”: India On Diplomatic Row

Rocky Fazilka, a resident of Punjab’s Ferozepur, was impressed by Bishnoi and took him under his custody.

As their villages were nearby, they became close aides, Mr Singh said.

Bishnoi has been in prison since 2015 and is currently lodged in Gujarat.

New Delhi:

Shiv Kumar Gautam, the main accused in the murder case of Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique, has made big revelations during police interrogation. The 20-year-old was arrested along with his four aides from Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich on Sunday while he was trying to flee to Nepal. He is among the three shooters who shot dead Mr Siddique outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Mumbai on October 12.

During interrogation, he told the police that Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, had told him to shoot the 66-year-old NCP leader or his son, Zeeshan, police sources said.

“Shoot whoever you see first,” Anmol apparently told Shiv Kumar.

Before carrying out the murder, Anmol Bishnoi, who is believed to be in Canada and is also on the most-wanted list of the National Investigation Agency, had given a pep talk to Shiv Kumar.

Mumbai police crime branch sources said Anmol told him what he was going to do was for “God and the society.”

A picture of Zeeshan Siddique, 32, was reportedly found on a cell phone seized from one of the three men who shot his father.

Shiv Kumar Gautam Changed Clothes After Baba Siddique Murder

After killing Baba Siddique, Shiv Kumar Gautam immediately changed his shirt and disappeared into the crowd so that no one could identify him, Mumbai police crime branch sources.

He then stayed near the crime scene to avoid any confrontation.

The 20-year-old then initially travelled from the crime scene to Kurla in an auto and then boarded a local train to Thane, sources said.

From Thane, he took a train to Pune and dumped his mobile phone during the journey.

Shiv Kumar stayed in Pune for about seven days and then went to Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi by train. He then stayed there for five days and went to the state capital Lucknow.

In Lucknow, he bought a new mobile and contacted his aides. After spending 11 days there, he travelled to his native Bahraich and met his aides, who had arranged a safehouse for him in a nearby village.

Shiv Kumar also said that after killing Baba Siddique, he first planned to go to Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain and then to Vaishno Devi in Jammu before fleeing the country.

How Cops Caught Shiv Kumar Gautam

The police traced about 45 people, including Shiv Kumar Gautam’s family members and his close aides, and tracked their movements after Baba Siddique’s murder.

During the investigation, they zeroed down to four people who were constantly in contact with Shiv Kumar, police sources said.

The police then laid a trap and waited for those four accused to meet Shiv Kumar. They then caught him from the Nanpara area of Bahraich on Sunday.

He was arrested in a joint operation by the police officials of Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai.

Anurag Kashyap, Gyan Prakash Tripathi, Akash Srivastava and Akhileshendra Pratap Singh were also arrested for giving shelter to Shiv Kumar and helping him escape to Nepal.

The police have so far arrested 20 in the case.

Baba Siddique was murdered apparently because of his close relationship with actor Salman Khan. Lawrence Bishnoi’s associates have hinted that the grouse against Mr Khan is about the blackbucks he killed 20 years ago. Blackbucks are sacred to the Bishnoi community.

New Delhi:

Shiv Kumar Gautam, the main accused in the murder case of Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique, was arrested from Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich on Sunday. Sources said he was trying to flee to Nepal.

Shiv Kumar, along with two other accused — Gurnail Singh, a resident of Haryana and Dhramraj Kashyap of Uttar Pradesh — shot dead Mr Siddique, 66, outside his politician son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Mumbai on October 12.

While Singh and Kashyao were arrested immediately after the attack, Shiv Kumar had managed to flee.

Shiv Kumar, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, was caught in a joint operation by the police officials of Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai from the Nanpara area of Bahraich.

During interrogation, he apparently said they were in Mumbai for days conducting recce for the NCP leader and on the night of October 12, “When we got the right time, we killed Baba Siddique”.

Police sources said Shiv Kumar has also admitted that he is linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The murder, he allegedly said, was carried out on the instructions of Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.

Anmol’s name has also cropped up in the murder of Punjabi singer-politician Sidhu Moosewala in 2022, and the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence in Mumbai in April. He is on the most-wanted list of the National Investigation Agency, and a Rs 10 lakh reward has been announced for his arrest.

How Cops Caught Shiv Kumar Gautam

After the murder of Baba Siddique, Shiv Kumar had gone to Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh to meet some henchmen of the gang. The Mumbai police had tracked him to Omkareshwar but failed to catch him.

The police then traced about 45 people, including Shiv Kumar’s family members and his close aides, and tracked their movements.

During the investigation, they zeroed down to four people who were constantly in contact with Shiv Kumar, police sources said.

A house next to Shiv Kumar’s residence was apparently made a safe house for him. The police then laid a trap and waited for those four accused to meet Shiv Kumar. They then caught him and his four aides there on Sunday.

Anurag Kashyap, Gyan Prakash Tripathi, Akash Srivastava and Akhileshendra Pratap Singh were arrested for giving shelter to Shiv Kumar and helping him escape to Nepal. The police have so far arrested 20 in the case.

Baba Siddique was murdered apparently because of his close relationship with actor Salman Khan. Lawrence Bishnoi’s associates have hinted that the grouse against Mr Khan is about the blackbucks he killed 20 years ago. Blackbucks are sacred to the Bishnoi community.

Investigators said Baba Siddique’s son and Mumbai MLA Zeeshan Siddique is also a target for the same reason. His photo was reportedly found on a cell phone seized from one of the three men who shot his father.

New Delhi:

Shiv Kumar Gautam, the main accused and one of the three shooters in the Baba Siddique murder case, was arrested today from Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh.  Sources said he was trying to flee to Nepal.  Four others — Anurag Kashyap, Gyan Prakash Tripathi, Akash Srivastava and Akhileshendra Pratap Singh – have been arrested for giving shelter to Shivkumar and helping him escape to Nepal.

Siddique, 66, was shot dead by three gunmen in Mumbai’s Bandra area on October 12 and earlier, 20 people — including the two other shooters — were arrested in the case.

The man — on the run since the murder of the NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister last month – was caught in a joint operation of the Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai police from Nanpara area of Bahraich.  Shiv Kumar, the police said, is one of the three shooters and also the person who was in touch with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. All instructions from the gang were routed through him.

Police sources said Shiv Kumar admitted during interrogation that he is linked to the Lawrence BIshnoi gang. The murder, he allegedly said, was carried out on the instructions of Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of Lawrence Bishnoi, who is believed to be living in Canada.

Anmol Bishnoi’s name has cropped up in the murder of Punjabi singer-politician Sidhu Moosewala in 2022, and the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence in Mumbai in April. He is on the most-wanted list of the National Investigation Agency and a Rs 10 lakh reward has been announced for his arrest.

During his interrogation, Shiv Kumar apparently said they were in Mumbai for days conducting recce for Baba Siddique and on the night of October 12, “When we got the right time, we killed Baba Siddiqui”.

It being a day of festival, the road was crowded and two of the attackers got caught but Shiv Kumar managed to escape.  “I threw out the phone on the way and went from Mumbai to Pune. From Pune, I reached Bahraich via Jhansi and Lucknow,” he was quoted as saying by sources.

“When I asked for a phone from a passenger in the train and talked to Anurag Kashyap, he said Avindra, Gyan Prakash and Akash have made arrangements for me to hide in Nepal. That is why I came to Bahraich and was trying to escape to Nepal along with my companions,” sources quoted him as saying.

After the murder of Baba Siddiqui, Shiv Kumar had to go to Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, to meet some henchmen of gang. The Mumbai police had tracked him to Omkareshwar but failed to catch him..

Baba Siddique was shot down apparently because of his close relationship with Bollywood actor Salman Khan. Bishnoi’s associates have hinted that the grouse against Salman Khan is about the blackbucks he killed 20 years ago. Blackbucks are sacred to the Bishnoi community.

Investigators said Baba Siddique’s son, Mumbai MLA  Zeeshan Siddique, is also a target for the same reason. His photo has been found on a cell phone seized from one of the three men who shot his father.

Four, and not three, guns were used in the murder of Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique, who was shot dead earlier this month sending shock waves across the country, investigation has revealed, said Mumbai police on Friday.  

The Mumbai police is investigating if the guns were sent to India by Pakistan via drones, the source added. The picture of the guns was also sent to Rajasthan police. 

Baba Siddique, the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party leader, was gunned down on October 12 near his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Nirmal Nagar in Bandra East. 

Jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang has claimed responsibility for the murder. 14 people have been arrested in the case, while three are on the run.

As per police, Haryana resident Gurmail Baljit Singh and Uttar Pradesh native Dharmaraj Kashyap as well as wanted accused Shivkumar Gautam shot at Baba Siddique, while Pune-based Pravin Lonkar’s brother Shubham is allegedly associated with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. He and other wanted accused had conspired to carry out the hit and supplied firearms to the shooters.

The three shooters threw chilli powder at the police officer guarding Siddique before killing him.

Harish Kumar Nisad, a scrap dealer from Pune, provided financial help for the operation, as per police.

Main shooter Shivkumar Gautam as well as key accused Shubham Lonkar and Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar are currently on the run.

The main accused Zeeshan Akhtar was in touch with all the other accused and had promised them big money and a foreign tour upon completion of the task, police sources told NDTV. 

In a crackdown on the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, the Delhi Police Special Cell has arrested at least seven suspected shooters who were planning to target someone in Rajasthan, officials said today. 

The Bishnoi gang is known to be involved in various criminal activities, including homicide, extortion, and arms trafficking, and their profile has been on the rise over the past few years.