Siddique murder: MCOCA court sends 8 accused to police custody

The accused were produced before the special court on Tuesday after the crime branch invoked the stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA)

MUMBAI: A special MCOCA court on Tuesday sent eight of the 26 men arrested in connection with the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddiqui to police custody till December 7. Among them was the main shooter Shivkumar Gautam.

Siddique murder: MCOCA court sends 8 accused to police custody

The accused were produced before the special court on Tuesday after the crime branch invoked the stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), prompted by the emergence of gangster Anmol Bishnoi’s name in the investigation. Bishnoi, the brother of incarcerated gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, is currently detained in the United States.

The crime branch sought the police custody of the eight accused to investigate the role of Anmol Bishnoi. The prosecution brought out the criminal antecedents associated with some of the accused in the past while arguing on the point of MCOCA.

The crime branch is seeking to investigate the communication between Anmol Bishnoi and the accused and the trail of money which was distributed into the bank accounts of the accused. It will also probe how the men came together and committed the offence.

Advocate Ajinkya Mirgal, the lawyer representing main shooter Shivkumar, contested the police’s seeking his custody after invoking MCOCA to get a confession out of him. He submitted that everything had already been recovered, adding that the prosecution did not need physical custody to investigate the bank account transactions.

Former minister Siddique, 66, was shot dead on October 12 by three assailants outside his son MLA Zeeshan Siddique’s office building in Bandra East. He sustained two bullet injuries on his chest and was rushed to Lilavati Hospital, where he passed away.

After the murder, the police arrested two shooters—Gurmail Baljit Singh, 23, and Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap, 19, from near the crime scene. The third shooter, alleged to be the main accused, Shivkumar Gautam, was arrested from UP’s Bahraich in November this year.

The application of MCOCA is significant, as it reflects the organised nature of the conspiracy. Anmol Bishnoi has a history of criminal activities, including involvement in firing outside actor Salman Khan’s Bandra residence and conducting a recce of his Panvel farmhouse.

Suspected key conspirators Shubham Lonkar and Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar are still on the run. The police believe that Bishnoi, Lonkar and Akhtar orchestrated the conspiracy and are suspected to have fled to Nepal. Shivkumar, too, was planning to escape to Nepal but was apprehended before he could execute his plan.