Mumbai’s Killa court sent two of the three accused in the Baba Siddique murder case — Gurmail Singh and Dharmaraj Kashyap — to police custody until October 21. The court ordered a bone ossification test for Kashyap after he claimed to be a minor, but the results confirmed that he is not.
The police have been granted custody to continue their investigation into the murder of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique, who was allegedly killed in a contract hit linked to the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The case has garnered widespread attention due to its connection to the criminal underworld and the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.
In a further development, the police arrested a key conspirator, Pravin Lonkar, from Pune. Lonkar is reportedly the brother of Shubham Lonkar, the individual behind a now-deleted social media post that implicated jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in the killing. Shubham Lonkar, who is currently absconding, allegedly orchestrated the murder and is accused of hiring two of the suspects, Gurmail Singh and Dharmaraj Kashyap, while they were working at a scrap yard in Pune.
The third suspected shooter, Shivkumar Gautam from Uttar Pradesh, remains on the run, with police actively pursuing him. A fourth suspect, Mohamed Zeeshan Akhtar from Punjab, is also believed to be involved. Akhtar is suspected of working closely with the Bishnoi gang and allegedly received the contract to carry out the killing of Siddique.
Police, while requesting 14 days of custody for the accused, argued that the killing was part of a meticulously planned operation. They are also investigating whether the suspects intended to target additional individuals, particularly in light of the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections scheduled for November.
