New Delhi: The chargesheet in the Baba Siddique murder alleges that the Bishnoi gang behind it wanted to establish supremacy in Mumbai, and had been planning to kill the former MLA since April 2024, ThePrint has learnt.
According to Mumbai Police sources, the 4,590-page chargesheet details how the murder was executed at the behest of fugitive gangster Anmol Lavinder Singh Bishnoi alias Anmol Bishnoi. The chargesheet names 26 people as accused, in addition to three who have been declared absconding—Anmol Bishnoi, Shubham Lonkar and Zeeshan Akhtar.
Of the three shooters, Shiv Kumar Gautam, Gurnail Singh, and Dhramraj Kashyap, two were arrested from the spot, while a third who fled the crime scene was held from Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich in November.
“The accused had been planning to kill Baba Siddique since April last year. They had made an attempt during the Ganpati celebrations [in September] too but failed due to crowd and security,” a senior police officer said.
The chargesheet, it is learnt, also reveals that investigators recorded the statements of 180 witnesses under Section 180 of the BNSS. Statements of another 14 were recorded under Section 183. As many as 35 mobile phones, five firearms, six magazines and 84 rounds of ammunition were seized during the probe. The chargesheet has been filed in a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOCA) court.
Mumbai Police in a statement said the accused shot Siddique on 12 October last year in Mumbai’s Bandra on the “instructions of Anmol Bishnoi, who is a member of his organised crime gang and the wanted accused conspired together to create terror and dominance of their organised crime gang”.
However, sources said that investigators have not yet uncovered any evidence suggesting that the murder was ordered by Anmol’s older brother gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, currently lodged in Sabarmati central jail.
“The shooters were told that Siddique is close to Dawood Ibrahim. They were also told that Anuj Thappan, arrested in the Salman Khan firing case, died in custody due to harassment and that Siddique was also responsible for his death,” another senior Mumbai police officer said on condition of anonymity.
As ThePrint reported earlier, the chargesheet in the Baba Siddique murder points to a “well planned” strategy. Investigators found that the shooters rented a flat in Kurla, conducted multiple recces and that the plot was hatched in a scrap shop in Pune. The 26 accused in the case were arrested from locations in Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
“The accused during interrogation have revealed how they spoke through social media apps. They also have said that Anmol Bishnoi had told them that Siddiqui is a close friend of Salman Khan, an arch enemy of the Bishnoi gang,” said the second Mumbai Police source.
Investigators said that the now-deleted Facebook post, purportedly by Shubham Lonkar, claiming responsibility for the murder citing Siddique’s closeness to actor Salman Khan and alleged ties to fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim is also part of the chargesheet.
Lonkar’s brother Praveen was arrested from Pune on 13 October. ThePrint reported earlier on how the Lonkar brothers were arrested in an arms dealing case in Maharashtra’s Akola district last January and had gone missing since June. Zeeshan Akhtar, wanted in the case, sources said, is a key link between Anmol and the other accused. Akhtar, originally from Jalandhar, not only arranged for the shooters but also allegedly provided logistical support.
Sources also said that so far no link has emerged between killing and the Slum Rehabilitation Authority dispute as alleged by his son Zeeshan Siddiqui. “We questioned several developers but no link has emerged so far. The probe has been in the direction of the Facebook post made by Shubham Lonkar,” said the first Mumbai Police source.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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