MUMBAI: Over 2.5 months after former state minister and NCP politician Baba Siddique was shot dead, police have concluded that gangster Anmol Bishnoi ordered his killing because of his proximity to actor Salman Khan. The city crime branch has ruled out the dispute over Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects in Bandra East as the motive. The police are likely to submit the chargesheet against 26 arrested accused in a week.
Siddique was shot dead on Oct 12 near son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Bandra East. The Bishnoi gang had fired at Salman Khan’s bungalow on April 14 for his alleged involvement in killing of a black buck in Rajasthan.
A police officer said, “Prima facie, we have not found any evidence to link the murder to SRA dispute as alleged by Siddiqui’s son Zeeshan. Though we recorded statements from a few developers, nothing came out. We are relying on whatever one of the suspects, Shubam Lonkar alias Shubbu, uploaded in a post on social media claiming responsibility two days after the firing.” Lonkar, who is on the run, had claimed the Bishnoi gang was behind the killing. Anmol Bishnoi is holed up in Canada and police are in the process of trying to get him to India.
The SRA angle was initially explored after a post on X from Siddiqui’s son Zeeshan. Zeeshan had raised the SRA issue with govt officials and in his post, he claimed that his father died protecting the lives and homes of the poor.
Sources said that the chargesheet is almost ready and will be filed in the first week of Jan 2025 before Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOCA) court against 26 arrested accused. Canada-based gangsters Anmol Bishnoi, Shubam Lonkar and Zeeshan Akhtar have been shown as absconding accused. Though they want to interrogate jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, police have not come across any direct evidence linking him.
“The shooters were told that Siddiqui was Dawood’s man and was responsible for the death of Anuj Thapan, one of the suspects in the Salman Khan firing case. Based on this, they accepted the contract to kill Siddique,” an officer claimed.
