Baba Siddique killing: Lawrence Bishnoi's Maharashtra module 1st given hit job but got spooked, say cops

MUMBAI: Five suspected members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang's state unit have been arrested in connection with the murder of former minister Baba Siddique.

A police official said one of the arrested men, Nitin Sapre, claimed that on finding out how influential Siddique was, "he got scared and understood the consequences and convinced co-accused Ramphoolchand Kanojia to stay away". "The handlers then decided to use the north India module for the job and chose Gurmail Singh, Shivkumar Gautam and Dharmaraj Kashyap." While Singh and Kashyap carried out the hit and were caught the same night a little distance away, Gautam is on the run.


The five from the Maharashtra module are suspected of supplying weapons, including Turkish, Australian and locally made pistols, to the shooters. They also arranged logistics, accommodation and financial support for the killing, said a senior crime branch official. "When Kashyap and Gautam arrived in Karjat, their accommodation was arranged by these arrested accused in mid-Aug. This group had provided logistics and money to the shooters. In mid-Sept, these accused provided three weapons, which have been seized, to the killers. We are also probing if the five arrested accused had visited Mumbai before Siddique's killing," the official said.

All five were produced before a court late on Friday evening and remanded in police custody till Oct 25.

While seeking their police custody, investigating officer Arun Thorat told the court that they were history-sheeters and played key roles in aiding and abetting the crime. He said two other accused, Shubham Lonkar and Zeeshan Akhtar, both of whom are also absconding, are two key persons who played the role of mediators between the two modules and chose Gautam for the task. He said only these two men can shed more light on the motive and the main conspirator.