Ganesh Kendale
NEW DELHI: Mumbai Police have found a photograph of NCP leader Baba Siddique’s son, Zeeshan Siddique, in the phone of one of the arrested suspects in relation to Siddique’s murder.
The police revealed that the image was sent to the suspect by their handler through Snapchat.
“Investigation revealed that the shooters and conspirators used Snapchat to share information with messages being deleted after instructions were given,” the Mumbai Police explained.
Ram Kanojia, one of the arrested suspects, disclosed that he was initially offered the contract to kill Baba Siddique. He had demanded one crore rupees for the task, the Mumbai Crime Branch noted on Saturday.
According to Kanojia’s statement, fugitive suspect Shubham Lonkar initially approached him for the contract. “Kanojia, who hails from Maharashtra, knew the consequences of killing Baba Siddiqui, which is why he was hesitant to take the contract. This led him to demand one crore rupees for the job,” the crime branch said. Subsequently, Lonkar opted to hire shooters from Uttar Pradesh.
Kanojia further mentioned that Lonkar believed individuals from Uttar Pradesh might not be fully aware of Siddique’s prominence in Maharashtra and would accept a lower fee. As a result, Lonkar hired Dharma Raj Kashyap, Gurnail Singh, and Shivkumar Gautam from Uttar Pradesh for the murder.
A look-out notice has been issued for Shubham Lonkar and two other suspects, Shiv Kumar Gautam and Zeeshan Akhtar, who are suspected of trying to flee to Nepal.
Baba Siddique was shot outside his office in Nirmal Nagar and was taken to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai. He sustained two gunshot wounds to the chest and succumbed to his injuries on October 12.
