Baba Siddique murder: Hitmen practiced shooting in Karjat

The Crime Branch also produced before the court Pune-based Pravin Lonkar, who ran a dairy in Pune and is accused of providing logistical and financial support

MUMBAI: The hitmen in the high-profile murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique had received shooting practice in Karjat, not far from Mumbai, in the month of August. They underwent a minimum of ten practice sessions before carrying out the attack on Siddique.

The accused were produced before the Esplanade metropolitan magistrate’s court on Monday. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

This was stated by the Mumbai Crime Branch before the Esplanade metropolitan magistrate’s court on Monday, while seeking an extension of custody of four accused, who were produced in court today. These were alleged shooters Gurmail Baljitsingh, 23, and Dharmaraj Kashyap, 19, both of whom were arrested soon after their accomplice, an absconding accused, fired the bullets that killed Siddique in Mumbai on October 12. Police told the court the shooters were living in Karjat while undergoing shooting practice, after which they proceeded to Mumbai, where they shot Siddique.

The Crime Branch also produced before the court Pune-based Pravin Lonkar, 30, who ran a dairy in Pune and is accused of providing logistical and financial support to the shooters. The fourth accused produced in court was Harishkumar Balakram Nisad, 26, from whose bank account money was transferred to the shooters. Nisad ran a scrap shop in Pune.

After hearing arguments from both sides, additional chief metropolitan magistrate Vinod Patil extended the police custody of the four accused, till October 25.

While urging the court to extend custody, public prosecutor V N Vaidya stated that the accused were not cooperating with the investigators and were providing only vague answers. This impeded their search for the main accused, police claimed.

On the status of the investigation, Vaidya told the court that ten arrests had been made so far. The police have seized the motorcycle and the helmet used by the accused when they conducted a recce of Siddique’s home in Bandra (West) and his son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Bandra (East).

“We have to confront all the accused together to clear up all our doubts, and for the same the four accused should be sent to police custody till October 25. They have shown us the spot where they practised firing,” the prosecutor added.

Advocate Siddharth Agarwal, appearing for the accused, opposed the extension of custody, claiming, “There is no progress in the investigations. The prosecution has been given sufficient time and yet they have not come up with anything concrete.”

Agarwal further argued, “Pravin Lonkar has been implicated only because he is the brother of Shubham (one of the main accused). He played no role in the crime. They (police) have recovered the weapons and even the person who supplied them.”

Meanwhile, interrogation of two other arrested accused, Ram Kanaujia and Bhagwat Singh Omsingh, has revealed that they had travelled to Udaipur in Rajasthan to collect the weapons allegedly used in the murder. They were handed the weapons by a man they were not acquainted with. These were two sophisticated pistols and a country-made gun, said a police officer.

The officer added that the two accused have provided a description of the weapons supplier and, based on this, the Mumbai Crime Branch is tracking him down with the help of the Rajasthan police.