Baba Siddique murder: SC refuses bail to man accused of harbouring alleged shooter

Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran observed that they found “no good ground to interfere” with the April 24 order of the Bombay high court

MUMBAI: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the bail plea of Akhilendra Pratap Sureshsingh, who allegedly sheltered Baba Siddique murder accused Shivkumar Gautam and helped him evade arrest.

NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique was shot dead near his son Zeeshan’s office in Bandra East in October 2024. (Hindustan Times)

Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran observed that they found “no good ground to interfere” with the April 24 order of the Bombay high court, which had rejected Sureshsingh’s plea, stating that it found prima facie material linking him to the alleged conspiracy.

Sureshsingh was arrested along with Gautam and other accused in Uttar Pradesh on November 11, 2024, a month after Siddique’s murder. Gautam, in his statement recorded under the MCOCA, alleged that Sureshsingh and others helped him avoid arrest and were assisting him in fleeing to Nepal when the police apprehended them.

The charge sheet also relied on call records, showing 117 calls between Sureshsingh and a co-accused. Besides this, eight calls were made to Gautam, and nine, 906, 15 and 157 calls to four other accused.

The defence team of senior advocate Prakash Naik and advocates Siddhant Sharma, Shantanu Phanse and Ajinkya Mirgal argued that Sureshsingh was merely acquainted with the other accused who were co-villagers, and the calls did not establish his involvement in the crime. They added that his confession admitting to harbouring the assailants had been retracted, and that there was no evidence that he had helped Gautam flee. The high court had, however, held that the confession was admissible and supported by the call records. The court also relied on the fact that Sureshsingh and some of the co-accused were apprehended at the same place.

The Supreme Court’s decision came on the same day that a special MCOCA court in Mumbai rejected the bail plea of Aakash Shrivastava, also accused of sheltering Gautam. Shrivastava was arrested with Gautam, Sureshsingh and others in Bahraich, UP, while allegedly attempting to flee towards the Nepal border. The court found prima facie material connecting him with the principal accused and members of the syndicate, while holding that retracted confessions could not be completely excluded at the bail stage when considered alongside other material such as call records and the circumstances of the arrests.