Mumbai/Pune: On Sunday, in a seeming confirmation of police theories, a certain Shubbu alias Shubham Lonkar, claiming to be an operative of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, claimed responsibility for the murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique. Lonkar is at large, and the Pune police said they had begun a manhunt for him.
A day after Siddique’s murder a few meters away from one of Mumbai’s busiest roads, the Western Express Highway, police teams from Mumbai, Pune, Akola, Punjab and UP are trying to piece together details of the assassination that threatens not only Mumbai’s law and order. situation but also has wider implications for one of the country’s biggest film stars, and Maharashtra’s upcoming assembly elections.
In a social media post, being relied on by the police, Lonkar boasted that Siddique had been killed for his proximity to Salman Khan and that the murdered politician was at the heart of the trifecta of underworld, Bollywood and Mumbai’s realty business. He also alleged the killing was a reprisal for the death of his fellow gang member Anuj Thapan in Mumbai police’s custody. Thapan was one of the two men arrested for the shooting outside Salman Khan’s house in April this year. He subsequently died by suicide in custody, a contention his family has challenged in court. Lonkar’s post does not specify what, if any, was Siddique’s connection with Thapan’s death.
But what is emerging is that Siddique’s murder was at least a month in the works. Lonkar was arrested by the Akola police in January this year under the Arms Act for allegedly supplying firearms to members of the Bishnoi gang. “During investigation in that case, we found that he had made several WhatsApp video calls to gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in 2022 and 2023, and he was also in touch with Bishnoi’s brother Anmol. Lawrence Bishnoi has been lodged in Sabarmati jail since April last year. Lonkar was released on bail from Akola jail in February this year. Within a few months of that, the police lost track of him. On Sunday, Lonkar’s elder brother, Pravin with whom he runs a scrap and dairy business, was arrested from Pune.
According to Mumbai police, Lonkar recruited Shiv Kumar Gautam one of the three assailants who attacked Baba Siddique. Gautam, believed to be in his mid-20s escaped after the attack. Originally from Bharaich district close to the Indo-Nepal border, Gautam had been working in Pune as a scrap worker when he met Lonkar. Gautam recruited the second assailant, Dharmraj Kashyap, his childhood friend and neighbor in Bharaich’s Gandara village. Kashyap was arrested by Mumbai police on Saturday along with the third killer Gurmail Singh who belongs to Kaithal in Haryana. Singh has criminal history, including a murder charge and has known connections with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. He was released on parole last year. It is not yet clear how Singh came in contact with either Lonkar or Shiv Gautam. What is known is that a month ago the three men were housed at Kurla close to Bandra east where Siddique was gunned down. They were paid 50,000 each. Two days ago, yet another operative of the Bishnoi gang gave them the arms and ammunition while someone with knowledge of Siddique’s movements provided them his whereabouts. Deputy commissioner of police, Mumbai crime branch, Datta Nalawade said the police was on the lookout for yet another man, Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar, possibly one of the conspirators.
On Saturday, a metropolitan magistrate remanded Gurmail Singh to police custody until October 21. The second arrested assailant Dharmraj Kashyap has claimed that he is a minor and the court has for a bone ossification test to ascertain that.
A case has been registered at Nirmal Nagar Police Station under Sections 103(1), 109, 125, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Sections 3, 25, 5, and 27 of the Arms Act. , and Section 37 and section 137 of the Maharashtra Police Act. The case is being investigated by the Mumbai Crime Branch’s Anti extortion cell.
Late on Sunday evening, Siddiqui, a watch repairer’s son, who rose to prominence in Mumbai politics with his innate intelligence and networking skills was laid to rest in Bada Kabrastan in Marine Lines. However, the larger questions around his death, and how Lawrence Bishnoi orchestrated it from jail, persist.
