New Delhi: At around 8.30 pm Sunday, former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique was laid to rest with full state honours at the Bada Qabrastan in the Marine Lines area, less than 24 hours after he was shot in Mumbai’s Bandra East area.
Siddique was attacked around 9.15 pm Saturday as he stepped out of son Zeeshan’s office to head home. Police have arrested two accused, one of whom has been remanded to police custody till 21 October and the other sent for a bone ossification test to verify his age, while a search is on for a third who was at the scene of crime but fled and a fourth who allegedly planned the killing.
A case has been registered at Nirmal Nagar police station under sections 103(1), 109, 125, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), as well as sections 3, 25, 5, and 27 of the Arms Act.
Sources in the Mumbai police told ThePrint that the two accused in custody claimed during interrogation that they received Rs 50,000 as a token payment.
Who was Baba Siddique
Baba Ziauddin Siddique served as the MLA for the Bandra West constituency in Maharashtra for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2009. He held the position of minister of state for Food & Civil Supplies and Labour under the then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh from 2004 to 2008 and was a municipal corporator from 1992 to 1997.
Siddique also served as chairman of Mumbai Housing and Area Development Board (MHADA) from 2000-2004. By the time he joined the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in February, Siddique had been with the Congress for 48 years, during which time he also served as chairperson and senior vice president of the party’s Mumbai unit.
His son Zeeshan is the sitting Congress MLA from Bandra East and president of the Mumbai Youth Congress.
Oppn blames ‘administrative failure’
Siddique’s assassination, just ahead of assembly elections in Maharashtra, has sparked a political uproar with the Opposition citing the incident to question the state of law and order in the state.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, said the brazen attack on Siddique’s life was a “big lapse” on the part of the state administration. “… even though he (Siddique) said that his life was in danger, the police didn’t protect him, this is such a big lapse from the administration’s side,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi too criticised the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government, saying the assassination “exposes the complete collapse of law and order in Maharashtra”.
“The government must take responsibility, and justice must prevail,” he wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray remarked that the deadly attack on Siddique signals a complete collapse of administration and public order in the state. Thackeray’s party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut termed it a failure of CM Shinde.
Shinde, meanwhile, announced that the trial in the case will be fast-tracked. He also said that ‘encounter specialist’ Daya Nayak will head the probe.
Emphasising that the police are conducting a thorough investigation, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, who also has the charge of the state home department, said the culprits will not be spared, whoever they may be.
Lawrence Bishnoi link
As ThePrint reported earlier, police sources in Delhi and Mumbai have confirmed that investigators are looking at a possible link between Siddique’s assassination and jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
The suspicion stems from a purported social media post by a man believed to be a member of the Bishnoi gang in which he claims responsibility for the assassination citing Siddique’s close proximity to actor Salman Khan, who has in the past received multiple threats from Bishnoi and his aides.
The post, which ThePrint could not independently verify, also mentions
Anuj Thapan—arrested in April in connection with the firing incident outside actor Salman Khan’s Mumbai residence earlier that month.
Thapan died, allegedly by suicide, while in custody on 1 May.
Also Read: Who was Baba Siddique, ex-MLA who left Congress after 48 yrs to join NCP, hosted elite Iftar parties