Baba Siddique murder: Court grants police custody of two accused till Oct 21, alleged key conspirator Pravin Lonkar arrested

Mumbai’s Killa court on Oct 13 sent two of the three accused in former Maharastra minister Baba Siddique's murder case — Gurmail Singh (23) and Dharmaraj Kashyap (19) — to police custody till Oct 21.

Meanwhile, on Oct 13 late evening, the police arrested the alleged key conspirator — Pravin Lonkar from Pune, who is the brother of Shubham Lonkar — the man behind the now-deleted social media post, which established the jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s involvement in the killing of Siddique.

The court had ordered a bone ossification test for Kashyap after he claimed to be a minor and it was later proved that he is not.

Police have launched a manhunt to nab a third suspected shooter — Shivkumar Gautam from Uttar Pradesh, who is on the run. Meanwhile, police on Oct 14 identified a fourth suspect — Mohamed Zeeshan Akhtar of Punjab, who is suspected to have been working with the Bishnoi gang and is believed to have received the contract for Siddique’s murder.

According to Mumbai police, the man behind the social media post who is currently absconding had hired two of the three accused for the crime, when they were working at a scrap yard in Pune.

While seeking 14-day custody of the two accused arrested so far, Mumbai police told the court that the murder was a well-executed plan, and they needed to determine whether the accused planned to kill anyone else ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections expected to be held in Nov.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Oct 13 held the home department responsible for the “dangerous security situation prevalent in Mumbai”.

NCP leader of Sharad Yadav faction Clyde Crasto on Oct 13 slammed the Maharashtra government over the killing of Siddique, saying it should answer why it “failed” to protect his life.

“When the unfortunate incident happened, people were passing by. People could have also been shot in the incident. The common man is also a victim. Maharashtra government should answer why they failed to provide security to Baba Siddique and the people of Maharashtra,” Crasto was quoted as saying.

Maharashtra cabinet on Oct 14 passed a condolence resolution on the death of the former minister.

Mumbai Police has launched extensive searches to nab Shubham Lonkar, a resident of Akola, who had put the post through his account ‘shubuu lonkar’ claiming Lawrence Bishnoi and his gang were responsible for the killing of Siddique.

Pertinently, Lonkar was arrested earlier this year for supplying weapons. He was reportedly in direct contact with Bishnoi, who is currently lodged in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central jail. According to police investigations, he had made WhatsApp video calls to Bishnoi twice in 2022 and 2023, and had also received WhatsApp audio calls from three international numbers, including from the gangster’s brother, Anmol Bishnoi.

A police officer was quoted as saying, “Shubham Lonkar had put up the social media post claiming that Siddique was gunned down due to his earlier links to Dawood and the death of Anuj Thappan — one of the accused arrested in the case involving firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence who committed suicide in police lockup.”

“He deleted the post within a few minutes, so we could not trace it. However, the probe revealed that he was involved in hatching the conspiracy. He fled by the time we reached his Akola residence. We have however arrested his brother Pravin from Pune.”

Baba Siddique was laid to rest with full state honor at Bada Qabrastan on Oct 13 evening. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordered for it as Siddique served as a minister in the Maharashtra Cabinet from 2004 to 2008.

According to police, three assailants fired six bullets at Siddique — a key Muslim political leader in Maharashtra — around 9.30 pm on Oct 13, near the office of his son Zeeshan, who is the MLA from Bandra East, leading to his death.