Baba Siddique Death: Murder Plan, Probe And Manhunt | The Latest

A massive manhunt continued to be underway on Tuesday to apprehend the third shooter in the killing of NCP leader Baba Siddique, who was shot dead on Saturday night in Mumbai.

Of the three shooters, two alleged shooters -- 23-year-old Gurmail Baljit Singh and 19-year-old Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap -- are already in custody. Shivkumar Gautam, the third suspected shooter, is on the run.

Gautam, who is from Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich, had flaunted his "gangster" status on social media posts in recent months.

Taking cover in the Dussehra fireworks, the gunmen opened fire and shot Baba Siddique dead. The NCP leader had non-categorised security, under which he was given three constables. Under this, security is provided to an individual as per the threat perception, an official said.

At the time of the attack, two cops had been relieved of duty and only one constable was with Siddique.

Baba Siddique Death | Latest Updates

The Murder Plan & The Probe

Police officials on Monday revealed that the conspiracy to murder NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique was hatched in Pune and shooters were given his photo and a flex banner for target identification.

The Mumbai crime branch, probing the murder of the 66-year-old NCP leader, also unearthed the alleged role of Pune-based Pravin Lonkar and his brother Shubham Lonkar in the conspiracy.

"The motive behind the killing will be ascertained once the wanted accused are arrested," a police official said.

Lonkar brothers have been identified to have played key roles in the crime. The two allegedly funded the shooters, managed logistics and facilitated meetings leading up to the murder.

Pravin worked at Shubham's dairy, where they hired shooters Shivkumar Gautam and Dharmaraj Kashyap -- who were linked to a nearby scrap shop.

The murder plan was hatched over several such meetings, which promised the shooters substantial fees in exchange for successful execution. The Lonkar brothers even gave them an advance of Rs 50,000 each and purchased a motorcycle for the shooters to conduct a recce of Siddique's residence and his routine.

Pravin Lonkar, who has been identified as a "co-conspirator" by the police, is accused of hiring two shooters to attack Siddique.

Pravin along with other two alleged shooters -- Gurmail and Dharmaraj -- is in police custody, while the hunt for the "handler" of the crime -- Mohammad Yasin Akhtar -- and third suspected shooter Shivkumar Gautam is underway.

The 21-year-old Akhtar is a resident of Shankar village in Punjab's Jalandhar district. He is facing nine heinous criminal cases, including murder and attempt to murder. Akhtar was arrested in a criminal case in June 2022 and has not visited his village since his release in June. Police said that Akhtar is also suspected to have links with gangster Vikram Brar.

The crime branch's investigation revealed that Gautam had called Dharmaraj Kashyap -- a UP resident -- to work with him in Pune three months ago.

Following this, Gautam moved to Mumbai's Kurla area and started staying on rent in Vinoba Bhave Nagar from September 2023. He also roped in Gurmail Singh in the conspiracy, officials said.

The trio of shooters conducted recces of Siddique's routine and home, remaining in constant touch with their handlers over the phone until the execution of their plan on Saturday.

Reportedly, Gautam initiated the fire on Siddique while Kashyap and Singh stood behind him. The three were also carrying some spray which was later used on Siddique after he was shot.

Police had nabbed Singh and Kashyap from Bandra, but Gautam fled the scene by then.

Shubham Lonkar had posted about the attack on Facebook, attributing it to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Since then, the post has been deleted. However, multiple screenshots of the posts have gone viral on social media. The Mumbai Police is coordinating with social media platforms to find out the origin of the posts.

The probe also unearthed that Shubham was the one who provided the shooters with firearms and ammunition. He was incarcerated in a separate arms case in Akola district in January.

Police seized two pistols, 28 live rounds, and four mobile phones from the suspects, which are under the analytics radar for further information. Meanwhile, the crime branch is trying to identify other persons who had been in touch with the Lonkar brothers.

Notably, the crime branch has not ruled out any angle. It is probing all possible plans, including the Bishnoi gang link. More than 15 teams have been deployed across states for the investigation.

"We are investigating all possible angles, including the involvement of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang," the official said, adding that the persons involved in the crime were assigned particular tasks.

Looking at the possible chances of questioning Lawrence Bishnoi in connection to Baba Siddique's murder, police have sent a proposal to the Home Department for the gangster's custody in a previous case. Bishnoi is lodged in the Sabarmati Jail at present.

Pravin Lonkar Remanded To Police Custody Till Oct 21

The third accused, Pravin Lonkar, arrested in the killing of Baba Siddique, has been sent to police custody till October 21 by a Mumbai court.

Pravin is accused of enlisting two of the three alleged shooters who killed Siddique. He was produced before magistrate VR Patil amid the Mumbai Police and crime branch's ongoing probe into the murder.

Police said that Pravin's brother Shubham Lonkar is allegedly associated with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. The prosecution claimed in court that Shubham and other wanted accused had hatched the shooting plan and supplied arms to the shooters.

The prosecution informed the court that Pravin has to be taken to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar for further investigation into the case and hence, his custody was required.

Meanwhile, Pravin's advocate Prashant Badkar refuted the allegations, saying that his client was being made a "scapegoat" as the police were unable to catch Shubham Lonkar.

Maintaining that the case was sensitive, Badkar said there could not be any conspiracy allegations against Pravin who runs a dairy shop.

After hearing both sides, magistrate VR Patil remanded Pravin to police custody till October 21.

Manhunt On For Third Shooter

Police searched religious and places of worship in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain and Khandwa as the manhunt for the third suspected shooter -- Shivkumar Gautam -- in Baba Siddique's murder was underway.

Six rounds had been fired on Siddique outside his son MLA Zeeshan Siddique's office in the Nirmal Nagar area on Saturday. Of these, two shots hit the former state minister's chest.

A top police official revealed that during interrogation, the other two shooters said that they had visited some places of worship before the crime. Noting the possibility of Gautam going there again, the Mumbai Police began scouring these places.

Notably, Ujjain and Khandwa are popular for housing the jyotirlingas of Mahakal and Omkareshwar temples, which thousands of devotees visit every day.

Gautam was the one who had been showing off his "gangster" status on social media in recent months. On July 24, he posted a photo on his Instagram with the caption "Yaar tera gangster hai jaani (Your friend is a gangster)". His picture on a motorcycle was posted along with a Haryanvi song.

Hailing from Gandara village in UP's Bahraich district, Gautam had no criminal history. Locals and the area's police had also said that he went to Pune to work at a scrap shop.

Another post from July 8 was captioned, "Sharif baap hai, *** (expletives) hum nahi". Going back further, on May 26, he posted a small video of a city skyline with the background from "KGF", which is a movie about a mercenary. He captioned the post with the film's dialogue -- "Powerful people make places powerful".