Baba Siddique murder case: Accused moves HC for preserving his call records to prove his charge of illegal detention

Kumar, through advocate Pranay Saraf, has challenged a special court’s October 8 order rejecting his plea to secure the records

MUMBAI: An accused in the Baba Siddique murder case has moved the Bombay High Court seeking urgent preservation of call records and other electronic evidence that he says could prove he was illegally detained in Haryana for five days before his formal arrest in Mumbai in October 2024. Amit Hisamsingh Kumar has sought the intervention, claiming the two-year retention period for crucial telecom records expires on Sunday, after which they could be destroyed.

Baba Siddique murder case: Accused moves HC for preserving his call records to prove his charge of illegal detention. (Hindustan Times)

Kumar, through advocate Pranay Saraf, has challenged a special court’s October 8 order rejecting his plea to secure the records. He alleges that Mumbai Police officers had him detained at the Special Detective Unit (CIA-II) in Kaithal, Haryana, from October 18 to October 22, 2024. He was subsequently brought to Mumbai and formally arrested at 2.20 am on October 23, he claims.

The police have denied the allegation of illegal detention. The prosecution told the court that a team had gone to Kaithal on October 15 but could not trace Kumar. The team returned on October 22 after receiving information about his availability, brought him to Mumbai for inquiry that day and arrested him the following morning.

Kumar’s application seeks call detail records (CDRs) and cell-site location data of five police officers, location data from his own mobile phone, and the flight manifest and booking details of the Delhi-Mumbai flight he allegedly took on October 22. He has also sought police duty rosters, a vehicle logbook and general diary entries from Kaithal.

The urgency stems from a December 2021 amendment to the telecom department’s Unified Licence conditions, which extended the minimum retention period for CDRs, exchange detail records and IP detail records from one year to two years. The rules require the records to be archived for at least two years, after which they may be destroyed unless the licensor directs otherwise.

Rejecting Kumar’s application on October 8, special judge Satyanarayan R Navander said, “The application does not disclose from where, by whom or under what circumstances accused No. 11 [Kumar] was allegedly taken into custody on 18th October 2024.” Although the allegation was serious, the judge said the application lacked the specific details needed to order the records’ production.

The judge cautioned against allowing the summoning of records to become a “fishing inquiry”. He, however, also noted that the prosecution had acknowledged Kumar’s apprehension at Kaithal on October 22 and his subsequent transfer to Mumbai.

Whether these circumstances amounted to an arrest, or whether Kumar had been detained beyond the legally permissible period without being produced before a court, would have to be determined on the relevant facts and law. The judge did not express an opinion on the merits of these questions.

Siddique, a former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader, was shot dead outside the Bandra East office of his son, Zeeshan Siddique, on October 12, 2024. Police have arrested 27 accused in the case, in which the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act was invoked. Charges were framed against all 27 accused in February this year.