Baba Siddique murder: Mumbai cops scanning places of worship in Ujjain and Khandwa to trace shooter

PTI, Oct 14, 2024, 6:30 PM IST

Bhopal: Mumbai Police’s search for a suspected shooter wanted in the former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique murder case continued for the second day on Monday in Madhya Pradesh with joint teams focusing on the places of worship in Ujjain and Khandwa districts, officials said.

A team from Mumbai Police reached MP on Sunday, a day after Siddique was shot dead in the megapolis, to trace suspected shooter Shivkumar Gautam, who is on the run.

Police have so far arrested three persons- Gurmail Baljit Singh (23), a resident of Haryana, Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19), from Uttar Pradesh, and “co-conspirator Pravin Lonkar from Pune. Suspected “handler” Mohd Zishan Akhtar is also wanted in the case.

Ujjain and Khandwa are famous for the famous Mahakal and Omkareshwar temples which attract thousands of people every day.

Mumbai Police are joined by their counterparts in MP to pick up the trail of the accused shooter, who hails from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh.

Queried whether the runaway shooter is a religious person who may turn up at these famous temples, a police official evaded a direct reply, saying police are also monitoring other places.

Khandwa is not far from Amravati and Jalgaon in Maharashtra.

“A team of Mumbai Police in collaboration with MP police is looking for the accused (who hails from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh). They suspect he might be hiding in MP and searching him in Ujjain district and Omkareshwar (in Khandwa district) of MP,” a police officer told PTI on Sunday.

NCP leader Siddique, 66, was waylaid by three persons at Kher Nagar in Mumbai’s Bandra area just outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office and shot at on Saturday night. He was rushed to the Lilavati Hospital where he was declared dead, according to Mumbai Police.

Police are verifying a social media post, attributed to a purported member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, owning up to the murder of Siddique.

The crime branch is also probing various angles, including a possible contract killing, business or political rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project, officials said on Sunday.

Mumbai Police have set up 15 teams which are fanned out of Maharashtra.