Police arrest 11th accused in Siddique murder case

Mumbai:The Mumbai police have made the 11th arrest in connection with the murder case of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique. The suspect identified as Amit Hisamsing Kumar is the resident of Haryana’s Kaithal.

According to reports, Kumar was the link between Gurmail Baljit Singh, one of the suspects arrested on the spot immediately after the murder and absconding accused Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar, who allegedly got the murder contract.

A police official said that 29-year-old Kumar was arrested from Haryana after his alleged role in the crime was revealed by the arrested suspects during their custodial interrogation. Police suspect Kumar was involved in hatching the murder conspiracy and its execution.

Kumar was nabbed on Tuesday evening from Haryana by a crime branch team and brought to Mumbai on Wednesday morning. He was produced before a local court, which remanded him to police custody till November 4.

Earlier on Sunday, the crime branch had arrested a scrap dealer in Navi Mumbai. He was the 10 arrested suspect in the case.

Siddique, 66, was shot dead outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Bandra area of Mumbai on October 12. Investigators have not yet established the motive behind the murder.

Police have so far arrested ten persons, including two suspected shooters Dharmaraj Kashyap and Gurmail Singh, while the main shooter Shivkumar Gautam and two conspirators including Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar are on the run.

The police strongly suspect the role of Lawrence Bishnoi gang in the murder. Shubham Lonkar, suspected member of the Bishnoi gang, had claimed responsibility for the murder in a social media post. Lonkar is also absconding.

In the social media post, Lonkar had indicated that Siddique was killed because of his close friendship with actor Salman Khan, who is being targeted by the gang because of his alleged involvement in the killing of a blackbuck in 1998. The animal is considered sacred by the Bishnoi community. However, the police have not ruled out the possibility that Siddique’s relationship with Salman Khan could be a smokescreen to cover up the actual motive behind the murder. They are probing the crime from different angles, including contract killing, business rivalry or threats over a slum rehabilitation project in Mumbai.