Baba Siddique, a former three-time MLA, was shot lifeless in Bandra final night time.
Mumbai:
The two suspects arrested within the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique have claimed they belong to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, stated sources. Cops have not verified this declare whereas the gang is but to confess duty for the homicide that has sparked safety issues forward of the Maharashtra state elections.
Baba Siddique, 66, a outstanding politician from the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party and a former three-time MLA from Bandra West, was shot lifeless in Bandra final night time.
At least six bullets had been fired at Mr Siddique close to his son’s workplace and 4 hit him within the chest. Cops, who suspect it to be a contract killing, have shaped 4 particular groups to probe the case.
The capturing, that coincided with Dussehra festivities, was carried out by three males. Two males – Karnail Singh from Haryana and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh – had been arrested whereas the third stays on the run. Cops, nonetheless, consider another person was offering them with details about Mr Siddique’s location.
During their interrogation by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, the 2 arrested suspects claimed that they had been conducting a recce of the capturing spot in Bandra East for almost a month, stated sources.
The three accused arrived there in an auto rickshaw final night time and waited for some time earlier than the capturing passed off, added the sources within the crime department.
The cops are probing the case from two angles – one involving the Bishnoi gang and one other associated to a slum rehabilitation case.
The involvement of the Bishnoi gang is suspected as a consequence of Mr Siddique’s proximity to Bollywood star Salman Khan, who had acquired threats from Lawrence Bishnoi. Sources near the sufferer declare he had acquired a demise risk 15 days in the past and was given the ‘Y’ class safety cowl.
Mr Siddique, nonetheless, didn’t report any risk from the Bishnoi gang, in response to the police.
Central businesses are in contact with the Mumbai Police whereas cops in Gujarat and Delhi are additionally probing the case.
Lawrence Bishnoi, who faces dozens of felony circumstances, is at present lodged in a jail in Gujarat, however his gang retains making headlines over ransom calls to businessmen. Salman Khan has been on his “goal record” over his notorious 1998 black buck looking case.
Rohit Godara, an in depth aide of Bishnoi, had earlier claimed that anybody who was a good friend of Salman Khan was their enemy.
Police sources counsel there are over 700 shooters within the Bishnoi gang and lots of small and large criminals throughout the nation work for him. Bishnoi has additionally been linked to a number of murders in latest days, together with these of rapper Sidhu Moosewala and a Delhi-based gymnasium proprietor of Afghan origin.