The Mumbai Police has arrested three people in connection with the murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, who was shot outside his office on Saturday. Among the three shooters, Gurmel Baljit Singh, 23, a resident of Haryana and 19-year-old Dharmaraj Kashyap of Uttar Pradesh have been arrested. The third shooter, Shivkumar Gautam from Uttar Pradesh, is still on the run. According to sources, the arrested shooters told police that Shivkumar was the leader of the pack. During interrogation, they also portrayed themselves as innocent and said only Shivkumar knew who the mastermind was behind the killing. According to their plan, Singh and Kashyap were to shoot the 66-year-old NCP leader under the cover of a Dussehra procession and fireworks. However, after seeing the crowd of people and security around Mr Siddique, Shivkumar said he would shoot first.
All three shooters were carrying chilli powder and pepper spray with them. As soon as Shivkumar fired six bullets at Mr Siddique, they threw chilli powder at the police constable. Shivkumar then fled after hiding in the crowd, but Singh and Kashyap were caught. Two pistols and 28 live rounds were recovered from them. All three shooters were carrying chilli powder and pepper spray with them. As soon as Shivkumar fired six bullets at Mr Siddique, they threw chilli powder at the police constable. Shivkumar then fled after hiding in the crowd, but Singh and Kashyap were caught. Two pistols and 28 live rounds were recovered from them. According to sources, the accused have claimed that they work for gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Bishnoi, who is lodged at Gujarat's Sabarmati jail, was also involved in the shooting incident outside the Mumbai residence of Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who is known to have been a close friend of Baba Siddique.
Two attackers, identified as Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap, 19, and Gurmail Baljit Singh, 23, were caught on the spot and later arrested. The police also arrested another man named Pravin Lonkar, 28, whose brother Shubham made a social media post claiming responsibility for the murder on behalf of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.As per initial investigation, the third shooter present with Kashyap and Singh was Shiv Kumar alias Shiva Gautam, 24, who is on the run. The police have also identified another accused, Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar, 21, who is allegedly the brain behind the murder.Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap and Shiv Kumar are both natives of Uttar Pradesh. Gurmail is a native of Haryana, while Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar is from Jalandhar in Punjab.
Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar, a resident of Jalandhar, was lodged in Patiala jail. Seven cases are registered against him.In the prison, he got in touch with the henchmen of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, who allegedly gave him the contract to kill Baba Siddique, sources said. Akhtar came out of jail on June 7 this year, following which he went to meet Gurmail in Haryana's Kaithal, sources said. He then arranged a room in Mumbai for Shiv, Dharmaraj and Gurmail.According to sources, Akhtar was also in Mumbai and was giving directions to the three attackers after they killed Baba Siddique. His last location was traced to Mumbai and police are on his lookout.