One more arrest in Baba Siddique murder case

32-year-old Sujit Sushil Singh, who allegedly introduced wanted accused Zeeshan Akhtar with two arrested accused in the case, was nabbed from Ludhiana in Punjab

MUMBAI: The Mumbai police crime branch on Friday arrested one more accused person in the Baba Siddique murder case, taking the total number of arrested accused to 15. 32-year-old Sujit Sushil Singh, who allegedly introduced wanted accused Zeeshan Akhtar with two arrested accused in the case, was nabbed from Ludhiana in Punjab, said officials.

One more arrest in Baba Siddique murder case

A native of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Singh was a resident of Chheda Nagar in Ghatkopar for several years. He was in touch with Zeeshan Akhtar and was part of the group that hatched the murder conspiracy, said police officials. Soon after the murder, he fled to Jalandhar – where his in-laws are based – and began staying with a relative.

“We are interrogating him to find out the reason behind the murder,” said a police officer. The police have also recovered another country-made pistol from the residence of arrested accused Ram Kanaujia in Panvel, the officer added.

While Siddique was murdered in Bandra East on October 12, the police managed to arrest two of the shooters, Gurmail Baljitsingh and Dharmaraj Kashyap, within two days. Their accomplice Shivkumar Gautam, who fired the bullets that killed Siddique, is still absconding, though.

The fourth accused, Harish Kumar Balakram Nishad, was arrested from Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh on October 15 for allegedly helping shooters to run a scrap shop in Pune. On October 18, based on the confession of shooters Kashyap and Gurmail, police arrested five more accused – Nitin Gautam Sapre, 35, Sambhaji Kisan Pardhi, 44, Pradeep Dattu Thombre, 37, Chetan Dilip Pardhi, 27, and Ram Fulchand Kanaujia, 43. Sapre is from Dombivli; Sambhaji Pardhi, Thombre and Chetan Pardhi are from Ambernath; while Kanaujia is from Panvel.

The tenth accused, Bhagwant Singh Omsingh, who allegedly collected the weapons from Udaipur was arrested from Navi Mumbai on October 20. Three days later, on Wednesday, the police arrested another accused from Haryana identified as Amit Hisamsing Kumar, 29. Kumar was the key link between the mastermind and the shooters and he had provided shelter to Akhtar at his residence Haryana’s Kaithal, said police.

On October 23, the crime branch also arrested three more accused – Rupesh Rajendra Mohol, 22, Karan Rahul Salve, 19, and Shivam Arvind Kohad, 20, all residents of Pune. The trio allegedly conducted a recce of the slain leader’s house and office in Bandra West in June, soon after being awarded the murder contract. The trio also recced his son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Bandra East.

Meanwhile, on Friday, nine of the accused arrested earlier were produced in court, where their police remand was extended by a day. The remaining six arrested accused have been remanded in police custody till November 4.