The Mumbai Police on Tuesday said that the conspiracy to kill former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique began about three months ago and that the accused visited his house several times without weapons, ANI reported. “According to the information received from Mumbai Crime Branch, the entire planning of Baba Siddiquis murder was done in Pune. Mumbai Crime Branch has so far recorded the statements of more than 15 people, including many eyewitnesses who were present at the time of the incident,” the police said. Baba Siddique (66), a former Congress leader who had joined the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party earlier this year, was shot dead by three persons in Mumbais Nirmal Nagar area on October 12. The shooting took place outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddiques office.The police have so far arrested four people in connection with the case. These include Haryana resident Gurmail Baljit Singh (23), Uttar Pradesh native Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19), both shooters, co-conspirator Pravin Lonkar from Pune. Harishkumar Balakram Nisad (23), hailing from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, is the latest to be arrested on Tuesday. The police claim that Nisad provided money and weapons for the crime.Another suspected shooter Shivkumar Gautam, from Bahraich, and Lonkars brother, Shubham Lonkar, are on the run. Shubham Lonkar is alleged to have been associated with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. “The fourth accused Harish arrested in the Baba Siddiqui murder case used to work as a middle man, the arrested accused Praveen and Shubham Lonkar (absconding accused) had given ₹2 lakh to the arrested shooters Gurmel Singh and Dharamraj Kashyap and this money was delivered through the fourth accused Harish,” the police.Besides the money, two mobile phones were also provided to the shooters. The police said that the investigation revealed that the accused used the Snapchat app for chatting and Instagram to call. The accused shooters – Gurmail Singh and Dharamraj Kashyap – learned to shoot by watching videos on YouTube. They were also given a photo of Baba Siddiqui and told that this was the target. “The house and office were also recced 25 days before the incident,” the police said.
