New Delhi: They rented a house, conducted recces for over a month and were prepared for close-quarter confrontation. A preliminary probe into the killing of Baba Siddique points to an elaborate plan, and the possible involvement of India’s most talked-about gangster—Lawrence Bishnoi.
In a press conference Sunday, DCP (Crime Branch) Datta Nalawade said Mumbai police are looking at the possibility of the Bishnoi gang’s role in the high-profile killing that brought the Maximum City to a standstill Saturday.
Hours after 65-year-old Siddique, a former state minister, was shot outside his son Zeeshan’s office in Bandra East Saturday night, a social media post surfaced purportedly by a member of the Bishnoi gang claiming credit for the killing—a textbook example of tactics deployed by gangs based out of northern India and their overseas affiliates to establish dominance.
Of the two accused nabbed by police from the scene of crime, the one from Haryana now in police custody till 21 October is in his mid-20s, while the other, who belongs to Uttar Pradesh, claimed in court that he was a minor. The court has ordered a bone ossification test to find out his actual age.
The age profile of the two accused now in custody is another factor that points to the possible involvement of the Bishnoi gang. Gangs like the one with jailed gangster Bishnoi at the helm hire young blood with a relatively lighter rap sheet to carry out high-profile killings.
“They are pawns used by those in jails and sitting abroad for these murders,” said a police source.
Also weaved into the thread linking the killing to Bishnoi was the name Anuj Thapan. Thapan was arrested from Punjab’s Sangrur in April this year in connection with the incident involving two bike-borne men opening fire outside actor Salman Khan’s residence in Mumbai earlier that month.
On 1 May, Thapan died after he allegedly tried to kill himself in custody.
The social media post, purportedly by a member of the Bishnoi gang, that surfaced after Siddique’s killing said the former Maharashtra minister was killed ‘because of Anuj Thapan and his ties with Salman Khan’.
The name of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, too, features in the post.
Also Read: Who was Baba Siddique, ex-MLA who left Congress after 48 yrs to join NCP, hosted elite Iftar parties
‘Knew of Siddique’s movements’
Similar to the modus operandi that came to light during Mumbai police’s probe into the firing incident outside Salman Khan’s Bandra residence, those accused in the Baba Siddique killing had rented a house in Mumbai’s Kurla area in the weeks leading up to the fatal attack Saturday.
“They paid in cash, took the flat for Rs 14,000 (per month) around 25 days before the murder. The probe has revealed that they conducted regular recces and tracked Baba Siddique’s movements. They knew that he had three constables as security,” a Mumbai police source told ThePrint.
Adding, “It is the festive season and they took advantage of that as well.”
Sources said weapons used in the shooting were supplied to the accused only two weeks prior to the day of the killing and they were paid a token amount of Rs 50,000 each. On Saturday, they arrived at the scene of crime in an auto-rickshaw and waited for the three-time former MLA, it is learnt.
During the press conference Sunday, DCP Nalawade also revealed that the accused had initially planned to use pepper spray on Siddique and his police escorts before opening fire, but one of the three accused—who is still on the run—deviated from the plan and shot Siddique in a haste. The third accused then fled the spot, while the other two were nabbed by police.
Nalawade also mentioned a fourth accused who the police suspect provided the accused with logistical aid.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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