Ganesh Kendale
Mumbai Police on Sunday arrested Bhagwant Singh, one of the accused in the NCP leader Baba Siddique’s assassination case. Singh, who was arrested from Belapur, is the tenth accused to be held in the case.
Bhagwant Singh allegedly helped shooters in getting accommodation and weapons. He had brought weapons from Rajasthan to Mumbai, reported news agency ANI citing the Mumbai Crime Branch.
Later, the accused was presented before a court that sent him to the Mumbai Crime Branch’s custody till October 26.
Maharastra’s ex-minister Baba Siddique was killed outside his son Zeeshan Siddique‘s office on October 12.
During interrogation, the suspects revealed they had orders to kill both Baba and Zeeshan Siddique, and they were to fire at anyone they found. The suspected shooters had made more than 10 failed attempts to kill him in and around Bandra in the past month.
The shooters involved in the killing of Baba Siddique learned to handle firearms by watching YouTube videos. Mumbai police’s crime branch, currently investigating the case, found that suspected shooter Shivkumar Gautam, now on the run, first learned firearm handling during celebratory firings at weddings in Uttar Pradesh.
Two other arrested suspects, Gurmail Singh and Dharmaraj Kashyap, disclosed that Gautam was hired for his expertise in firearms.
The group trained at a rented house in Kurla, practicing without bullets. Since they couldn’t find a suitable space for live practice, they relied on YouTube videos for nearly four weeks to learn loading and unloading techniques.
Another alleged conspirator, Shubham Lonkar, had been under police surveillance until September 24, after being questioned in June about a shooting incident outside actor Salman Khan’s residence.
Shubham was suspected of having ties to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
