NCP leader Baba Siddique was shot by three assailants outside his office in Nirmal Nagar and later succumbed to his injuries at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital. The 66-year-old former Maharashtra minister was buried with full state honors at Baba Qabrastan in Mumbai on Sunday.
Mumbai Police are investigating the case, and two of the three prime accused have been arrested. They will remain in custody until October 21. The third suspect is still at large.
Mumbai Police, investigating the murder of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, conducted an ossification test on the accused, Dharmaraj Kashyap. The test confirmed that Kashyap is not a minor, officials said on Monday.
The arrested suspects have been identified as Gurmail Baljit Singh (23) from Haryana and Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19) from Uttar Pradesh. A third accomplice, who was present at the scene during the shooting, managed to escape and is currently on the run
The crime branch team produced the accused before the court, where Dharmaraj Kashyap’s lawyer argued that his client was a minor, according to an official statement.
The vacation bench ordered an ossification test for Dharmaraj Kashyap on Sunday, which confirmed he was not a minor, an official said. Kashyap was then produced before the court and remanded to police custody until October 21.
The fourth suspect in the murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique hails from Jalandhar, Punjab, police sources revealed. Identified as Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar, he allegedly acted as the handler for the shooters, directing them from outside.
When Siddique was shot, Akhtar was reportedly providing real-time updates on his location to the gunmen. He also arranged logistical support, including renting a room for them. After the shooting incident, Akhtar fled and is believed to still be hiding in Mumbai, according to sources. Multiple police teams have been deployed to track him down.
In a late evening development, the Mumbai Police crime branch arrested 28-year-old Pravin Lonkar from Pune. He is the brother of Shubham Lonkar, who is linked to the Nirmal Nagar shooting case. The brothers planned the conspiracy to kill Siddiqui and brought Dharmaraj Kashyap and Shivkumar Gautam into the plot, according to an official statement.
(With agency inputs)
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