E-Paper
Baba Siddiqui murder: Jalandhar police launch hunt for key suspect’s kin
Cops say Mohammad Akhtar’s father, brother left Jalandhar’s Shankar village before his name surfaced in NCP leader’s murder
After Mumbai police failed to arrest Jalandhar-based Mohammad Yaseen Akhtar, a key associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang wanted in the murder of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddiqui, Jalandhar cops have launched a hunt to trace Akhtar’s family.
Akhtar’s family, including his father and brother, left Jalandhar’s Shankar village a couple of day before his name surfaced in Siddiqui’s murder. Akhtar’s mother and sister had already died. The NCP leader was shot dead on Dussehra eve on October 12.
Jalandhar senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harkamal Preet Singh Khakh said the Mumbai police came and visited Akhtar’s house at Shankar village but it was found to be locked.
“The villagers told that his family moved out a few days ago and had not returned since then. We have initiated investigation to trace his father and brother to gather further information about Akhtar,” Khakh said.
“We didn’t have any strong clue about the family so far but we are working on different angles to trace them,” Khakh said.
During interrogation of assailants involved in Siddique’d murder, Akhtar’s name cropped up as a key handler, who provided logistics, including assistance in recce and shelter to the killers.
Akhtar’s family originally hailed from Maharashtra but shifted to Jalandhar’s Shankar village in Nakodar sub-division before his birth in 2003. His father Mohammad Jameel worked as a marble fitting labourer in the village since then.
He initially attended a madrasa in Beed district, Maharashtra, before moving to another in Afjal Garh, Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh. He later joined a government school in Shanker village in class 6, before completing his matriculation here.
One of the senior officials said he hardly visited his family in past three years. He didn’t even come to attend the last rites of his mother, the villagers said.
According to police record, nine FIRs including that of murder, robbery and extortion and under Arms Act are registered against Akthar. He was arrested by Jalandhar rural police on July 6, 2022, in ab Arms Act and robbery case and remained in Kapurthala and Patiala jails before he got a bail in June this year. He came out on bail in June this year and didn’t come back to his village.
Akhtar came into contact with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi through his close aide Vikramjit Singh, alias Vikram Brar, to whom he contacted on social media accounts. On Vikram’s directions, he went to meet other associates of Bishnoi gang in Punjab’s Kotakpura in 2021. Vikram Brar was arrested and deported from UAE last year in Sidhu Moose Wala killing case.
