Baba Siddique murder case: Accused Pravin Lonkar remanded to police custody till October 21

This was after the police informed the court that the 28-year-old was involved in the conspiracy to kill the Nationalist Congress Party leader along with his younger brother, Shubham Lonkar, who had claimed responsibility for the murder

MUMBAI: A metropolitan magistrate court on Monday remanded Pravin Lonkar, an accused in the Baba Siddique murder case, to police custody till October 21.

Baba Siddique murder case: Accused Pravin Lonkar remanded to police custody till October 21

This was after the police informed the court that the 28-year-old was involved in the conspiracy to kill the Nationalist Congress Party leader along with his younger brother, Shubham Lonkar, who had claimed responsibility for the murder. The police also informed the court that Pravin Lonkar, like his brother, was connected with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which is suspected to be behind the assassination.

Pravin Lonkar, a resident of Pune’s Warje area, was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch on Sunday, a day after three armed assailants shot Siddique dead near his son and MLA Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Bandra (East). According to the police, Pravin was one of the conspirators, along with his brother Shubham and two of the shooters, Dharmaraj Kashyap and Shivkumar Gautam. While Kashyap and the third assailant, Gurmail Singh, have been arrested, Gautam is absconding.

“Pravin Lonkar and his brother Shubham Lonkar are associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Pravin was aware of the whole conspiracy. Shubham was arrested in the past in an Arms Act case registered against him,” said public prosecutor SN Vaidya, while seeking Pravin’s police custody remand till October 21.

Vaidya added that the main conspirator, Shubham Lonkar, was on the run and only Pravin Lonkar would be able to reveal where his brother his hiding. “The accused brothers have supplied weapons in this case as well. We need to take them to Haryana, Bihar, and Rajasthan to identify other gang members who worked with them,” said Vaidya.

Advocate Prajay Kutkar, who appeared for the accused, argued that Pravin Lonkar had nothing to do with the murder and that the police detain him every time Shubham Lonkar is involved in a crime. “No doubt it is a sensitive case, but Pravin is falsely implicated in the case. He runs a dairy in Pune; he is made a scapegoat,” the lawyer said, adding that Pravin was detained around 4 am on Sunday and was shown arrested only in the evening.

After hearing both sides, additional chief metropolitan magistrate Vinod Patil remanded Pravin Lonkar to police custody till October 21.