A team from the Maharashtra crime branch has mobilised to Khandwa and Omkareshwar in search of the primary suspect, Shiv Kumar alias Shiva Gautam, following the high-profile murder of Baba Siddique in Mumbai. According to a Free Press Journal report, the three assailants had conspired to flee to Omkareshwar after committing the murder. However, with two suspects already apprehended, the whereabouts of Shiva remain elusive, prompting the crime branch's continued efforts to locate him. According to the police, Shiv Kumar reached Kurla station in a rickshaw from Bandra. Investigation revealed that the accused then took a train from Harbor Line from Kurla to Panvel station. He was last seen in Panvel and the police suspect he left the state by taking an express train from Panvel.
While his accomplices - Gurmail Baljit Singh and Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap - were arrested the night of the crime, he managed to escape. Locals and police in the Gandara village said Kumar had no criminal history. They said that he had gone to work at a scrap shop in Pune. Kumar's mother, Suman, expressed disbelief over the police's claim that his son was among those involved in the sensational killing of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former lawmaker Siddique.Mumbai police have arrested three suspects Dharmaraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh, Gurmail Baljit Singh from Haryana and Pravin Lonkar, the 28-year-old brother of Shubham Lonkar, from Pune. They were produced before the court.
Search for another Shiv Kumar alias Shiva Gautam, are residents of Gandara village in Bahraich in connection with the murder is being going on. Gautam, the absconding shooter, fired six rounds at the NCP leader, two of which hit the target. He also sprayed red chilli powder on the security personnel guarding Baba Siddique to evade arrest, said the police sources. All three gunmen had carried red chilli powder with them. During police questioning, Singh and Kashyap denied knowledge of the person who ordered the killing of Baba Siddique. However, they revealed that Shivkumar Gautam had received instructions to carry out the attack. Gautam is one of the three shooters who fired multiple shots at the former minister of Maharashtra Baba Siddique in Bandra on Saturday night. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, meanwhile, has assured that those responsible for Siddique's brutal murder will not escape justice. On Sunday evening, a 28-year-old man was arrested from Pune. The police said the arrested man, Pravin Lonkar, was a "co-conspirator" and added that they were on the lookout for his brother, Shubham Lonkar.