Five more Lawrence Bishnoi gang members arrested in Baba Siddique murder case
According to the police, all five accused have a criminal record and were in touch with the prime suspect, Shubham Lonkar
MUMBAI: The crime branch has arrested five more members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang from Karjat in Raigad district in connection with the murder of Nationalist Congress Party leader and former Maharashtra minister Ziyauddin Abdul Karim Siddique, also known as Baba Siddique. According to the police, the five accused were in touch with the prime suspect, Shubham Lonkar, and had supplied sophisticated weapons to the three assailants—Shivkumar Gautam, Dharmaraj Kashyap and Gurmail Singh—who shot Siddique dead on October 12.
The arrested accused were identified as Nitin Sapre, 32; Sambhaji Paradhi, 44; Chetan Paradhi, 27; Pradeep Thombre, 37; and Ramphul Chand Kanaujia, 43. According to the police, all five accused have a criminal record and are part of the Pune module of the Bishnoi gang. Some of them were in touch with Zeeshan Akhtar, one of the masterminds behind the murder of Baba Siddique.
One of the five, Kanaujia, attacked the police while they were trying to arrest him, an officer said. It took the police half an hour to get him under control, during which a police inspector sustained a hand injury, the officer added.
A metropolitan magistrate court on Friday remanded the five accused to police custody till October 25.
During their interrogation, the police found that the accused had provided three weapons to the shooter, Gautam—who allegedly fired six rounds at Siddique, three of which hit him—and his accomplice, Kashyap. The weapons included an Austrian Glock pistol, a Turkish Tisas and a country-made pistol. All three weapons have been seized by the police, who suspect that Gautam used the Tisas pistol to kill Siddique and later dumped it in a backpack around 200 metres away from the crime scene.
According to the police, Sapre had allegedly arranged a room in Karjat for the two shooters—Gautam and Kashyap—where they stayed for a day in mid-August. The weapons were supplied to the shooters in mid-September, a police officer said, adding that they are trying to find out where the accused practised firing.
Sapre also allegedly helped the assailants financially and gave them cash. The police are trying to find out where the money came from. They plan to scrutinise Sapre’s bank account to see if that leads them to any financial trail, said the officer.
Sapre, the officer added, has a past crime record, including serious cases like murder, attempt to murder, and Arms Act cases registered against him. The murder case was registered in 2015, in which he was arrested and spent time in jail.
Kanaujia also has a case registered against him, but the crime branch is yet to get details. He works at a construction site and had supplied weapons to the accused, police said.
In 2017, Sambhaji Paradhi, Chetan Paradhi and Sapre were involved in a murder in Ambarnath, after which they were arrested and lodged in Kalyan’s Adharwadi Jail, police said. That’s where they met Kanaujia and Pradeep Thombre. They were later released on bail, after which they formed a gang and came in contact with Lonkar.
The police have arrested Kashyap, Singh, and Lonkar’s brother, Pravin Lonkar, for their involvement in the murder of Siddique. Gautam, Shubham Lonkar, and Akhtar are still at large. The Mumbai police have issued a look-out circular (LOC) against the three men.