Baba Siddique accused of murder says Bishnoi gang wanted him to kill whoever he saw first; Reveals shocking details

On By Pranco

Shiv Kumar Gautam, one of the assailants who shot dead Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique on October 12 and was arrested in Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, has revealed shocking details to the Mumbai police about the involvement of Lawrence Bishnoi gang in the incident.

Gautam told the Mumbai Police during interrogation that the Larence Bishnoi gang had assigned him the task of killing Baba Siddique or his son Zeeshan Siddique. Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, had ordered him to shoot whoever he came across first.

Police also arrested four persons — Anurag Kashyap, Gyan Prakash Tripathi, Akash Srivastava and Akhilesh Pratap Singh — for providing him shelter and helping him flee the country. Siddique (66) was shot dead by three gunmen in Mumbai’s Bandra district on October 12.

Gautam’s arrest took the total number of arrests in the Baba Siddique murder case to 23. A joint team of UP’s Special Task Force earlier said the group tried to escape into Nepal through the porous border at Bahraich.

How did Shiv Kumar Gautam escape?

Gautam revealed that he, along with two accomplices, carried out extensive surveillance of Siddique in Mumbai. On October 12, amid a busy festival atmosphere, they took the opportunity to assassinate the NCP leader. Gurmail Singh, a native of Haryana, and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh, were the other two gunmen arrested on the spot.

According to Mumbai Police, Gautam changed his appearance after the murder and observed the commotion at the scene for a considerable time, mingling with the crowd to avoid being identified. Later, he took an auto to Kurla Station and boarded a local train to Thane.

After reaching Thane, he boarded an express train to Pune and threw away his mobile phone to avoid being traced. He stayed in Pune for about seven days and then traveled by train to Jhansi where he stayed for five days. He then went to Lucknow and bought a new mobile phone to contact his employees.

Gautam stayed in Lucknow for about eleven days before going to Bahraich, where he was arrested. His associates had arranged a hiding place for him in a nearby village. Gautam only used public transport to travel from Mumbai to Bahraich and planned to flee to Nepal on November 10 on instructions from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

The suspect told police that he had plans to go to Ujjain and then to Vaishno Devi before fleeing abroad, which was foiled by his arrest. During his escape from Mumbai, he had contacted co-accused Anurag Kashyap, who was traveling to Jharkhand, through a passenger’s phone.

How did Mumbai Police catch him?

The Crime Branch of Mumbai Police had been tracking Shiv Kumar Gautam for 21 days and tracked down several people associated with him. The police had collected detailed information about Gautam’s family and close associates, including 45 persons under surveillance.

Gautam had been in regular contact with Shubham Lonkar, a scrap dealer, who put him in touch with Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother, and was in touch with Zeeshan Akhtar before and after the murder. The investigation was gradually narrowed down to four suspects: Gyanprakash Tripathi, Anurag Kashyap, Akhilesh Pratap Singh and Akash Srivastava. On November 10, a trap was laid to nab the suspect.

Moreover, the police said Rs. Before the murder, Rs 2 lakh was deposited in Anurag Kashyap’s bank account, which he then withdrew and gave to Gautam to buy weapons. An investigation is being launched to determine the origin of this money. Moreover, ⁠Rs. 5 lakh was found in the account of accused Harish Kumar Nishad.

Gautam has been remanded in police custody till November 19. Lawrence Bishnoi’s younger brother Anmol, who is believed to be living in Canada, is believed to be behind the killing, but the motive remains unclear, police said.

See also: Amid Salman Khan-Lawrence Bishnoi Row, Vivek Oberoi’s Past Comments About Bishnoi Community Resurface Online