Baba Siddique killing: Mumbai Crime Branch still clueless about three prime suspects

Three weeks after NCP leader Baba Siddique's murder, Mumbai police are still searching for the main accused, Shivkumar Gautam, who remains at large

MUMBAI: Three weeks after NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique was shot dead outside his son’s Bandra East office, the Mumbai crime branch is yet to get any clue on the three main accused—the alleged shooter Shivkumar Gautam and alleged conspirators Shubham Lonkar and Zeeshan Akhtar. The police arrested the other two shooters accompanying Gautam—Gurmail Baljitsingh and Dharmaraj Kashyap—the same day, but Gautam, who fired the bullets that killed Siddique, is still absconding.

Former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique. (HT Corresponden)

Two crime branch teams are still looking for Gautam at the India-Nepal border, said an official on condition of anonymity, adding that it seemed that either Shivkumar had crossed the border or was in some place from where he was not contacting anyone.

A police officer said that the murder conspiracy was hatched by masterminds Lonkar and Akhtar who met in Pune for the purpose. Later, Akhtar met the third alleged conspirator, Sujit Singh, in Ludhiana. So far, the crime branch has arrested a total of 15 accused, of whom 10 accused are in judicial custody.

On Monday, the crime branch produced five accused—Amit Kumar, Rupesh Mohol, Shivam Kohad, Karan Salve and Sujit Singh—before the Killa court, as their custody had ended. The police sought their further remand on the grounds that a weapon and three to four cartridges need to be recovered from the accused. They submitted that they also needed to check the bank statements of the accused to zero in on the money trail—who had sent money to eliminate Siddique and from where. The court, after hearing the arguments, extended the police custody of the five by a day.

The other arrested accused are identified as Gurmail Baljitsingh, Dharmaraj Kashyap, Pravin Lonkar, Harish Kumar Balakram Nishad, Nitin Gautam Sapre, 35, Sambhaji Kisan Pardhi, 44, Pradeep Dattu Thombre, 37, Chetan Dilip Pardhi, 27, and Ram Fulchand Kanaujia, 43, Bhagwat Singh Omsingh. All are in judicial custody.

Singh was the last man to be arrested, from Ludhiana in Punjab. He is a native of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, but was staying in Chheda Nagar at Ghatkopar for several years. He was in touch with Zeeshan Akhtar and was part of the group that hatched the murder conspiracy.