Baba Siddique murder case: The three men, who shot dead politician and NCP leader Baba Siddique on Saturday, set off a firecracker which emanated smoke, in order to disrupt the vision of the cops in the leader’s detail.
The detail was shared by a head constable who was part of the former Maharashtra minister’s security cover, Indian Express reported.
When the firecracker distracted the personnel in the security detail, assailants opened fire and killed Baba Siddique, police said.
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“When I asked Siddique’s vehicle’s driver Sharma to bring the vehicle ahead (while he was leaving after attending a meeting), one of the accused cracked a firecracker-like item. Because of this, smoke was spread around (us). My eyes experienced irritation and were secreting tears. I thought someone had cracked a firecracker (in a festival celebration). This was when the assailants opened fire on Siddique indiscriminately,” said Shyam Magan Sonawane, 47, the police head constable posted in Siddique’s security, in his statement to the police.
Among the three shooters, Gurmel Baljit Singh, 23, a resident of Haryana and 19-year-old Dharmaraj Kashyap of Uttar Pradesh have been arrested. The third shooter, Shivkumar Gautam from Uttar Pradesh, is still on the run. Meanwhile, co-conspirator Pravin Lonkar has also been arrested.
Siddique, a three-time former MLA, was coming out of his son and Bandra East MLA Zeeshan Siddique’s office and walking to his car when the three assailants fired six or seven rounds at him on Saturday night. He sustained multiple serious injuries and was rushed to Lilavati Hospital, where he was pronounced dead during treatment.
Police sources told IE that the killing was meticulously planned, and the conspirators had a clear idea that the NCP leader had police security cover.
A member of the gang and suspected key conspirator, Shubham Lonkar, claimed responsibility for the murder in a social media post through his account ‘shubuu lonkar’. He is currently absconding. One of the arrested accused, Pravin Lonkar, is Shubham Lonkar’s brother.
Two more men, identified as Shivkumar Gautam and Mohamed Zeeshan Akhtar, are wanted in the case. While Gautam was one of the three shooters in Bandra, Akhtar was believed to have received the contract to murder Siddique.