Mumbai police have arrested the main accused in the Baba Siddique murder case along with two others. Shiva Kumar, who was the one who shot fire on the deceased NCP leader was nabbed from Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich on Sunday. So far, 19 people have been arrested in connection to the murder.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order and STF) of UP Police Amitabh Yash said that Shiv Kumar was trying to flee to Nepal. A team from the Mumbai Crime Branch, in a joint operation with the UP Special Task Force, also arrested Anurag Kashyap, Gyan Prakash Tripathi, Akash Srivastava, and Akhileshendra Pratap Singh for giving shelter to Shiv Kumar and helping him escape to Nepal.
Shiv Kumar had been on the run since October 12, when Baba Siddique was murdered. According to the reports, he used a 9.9 mm pistol and fired a total of six rounds at Siddique. One of the bullets struck him in the chest leaving him unconscious.
Notably, accused Dharmaraj Kashyap (19) and Shiv Kumar alias Shiva Gautam (20) are residents of Gandara village in Kaiserganj police station area of Bahraich district, a senior UP police officer had said after Siddique was shot dead.
Kaiserganj Circle Officer (CO) Anil Kumar Singh had told PTI that Shiv Kumar had gone to Maharashtra to work as a labourer a few years ago and in April this year, he had called his neighbor Dharmaraj Kashyap to work with him.
The police investigation linked the murder to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. A report by NDTV revealed that during interrogation, according to the police sources, Shiv Kumar admitted that he is linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and worked on the instructions of Anmol Bishnoi, the younger brother of the jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Anmol is believed to be living in Canada.
According to PTI, Shiva revealed during interrogation that he met Shubham Lonkar, who works for the Bishnoi gang, in Pune where he worked at a scrap shop. “I used to work in a scrap (shop) in Pune. My scrap shop and Shubham Lonkar's (shop) were next to each other. Shubham Lonkar works for Lawrence Bishnoi. He made me talk to Lawrence Bishnoi's brother Anmol Bishnoi several times through Snapchat,” Shiv Kumar said.
“In exchange for the murder of Baba Siddique, I was told that after the murder you will get Rs 10 lakh and every month you will keep getting something or the other. Shubham Lonkar and Mohd. Yasin Akhtar gave us weapons, cartridges, a SIM (card), and a mobile phone for the murder. After the murder, the three shooters were given new SIM and mobile phones to talk to each other,” Shiv Kumar further revealed.
Shiva further confirmed that they were doing the recce of Baba Siddique in Mumbai for several days before killing him on the night of October 12, 2024, when they got the right time. He said that since there were police and a crowd of people due to the festival, two people were caught on the spot while he escaped. He threw the phone on the way and went from Mumbai to Pune.
“From Pune, I reached Bahraich via Jhansi and Lucknow. In between, I kept talking to my colleagues and handlers by asking for anyone's phone. When I talked to Anurag Kashyap using a passenger's phone from the train, he said that Alinder, Gyan Prakash, and Aakaash have together made arrangements for you to hide in Nepal. That is why I came to Bahraich and was trying to escape to Nepal along with my colleagues. The rest of the colleagues also supported this,” a statement issued by UP STF quoted Shiva Kumar.
Before Sunday's arrest, the Mumbai Police had arrested Gaurav Vilas Apune on Friday. According to a report by news agency ANI, Apune, who is a shooter, was a part of plan B of the assassination. Apune revealed in the interrogation that there was a backup plan in case of failure of the original plan. He also revealed that Shubham Lonkar was the mastermind of the plan and had sent Apune and Rupesh Mohol (another arrested accused) to Jharkhand to practice shooting.
NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique was shot outside his son Zeeshan Siddique's office in Bandra East. He sustained two bullet injuries on his chest and was rushed to the Lilavati hospital in Mumbai, where he passed away.
