Police find Zeeshan Siddique’s photo from phone of arrested accused
Mumbai: A week after former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique was shot dead, the Mumbai police has suspended the constable deployed for his protection for negligence and dereliction of duty. Constable Shyam Sonawane, who is also the complainant in the Siddique murder case, has claimed that the attackers threw chili powder on him before opening fire on the slain politician. The police have also found a photograph of Baba Siddique’s son Zeeshan in the smartphone recovered from one of the accused persons.
According to the police, Siddique was provided protection by three police constables, who worked in shifts of eight hours each. At the time of the attack, Sonawane was with him.
A source from the police department said Sonawane claimed that the assailants distracted him by throwing chili powder and bursting fire crackers.The other constables deployed for Siddique’s protection are also being questioned.
Mumbai police has identified Shiv Kumar Gautam, Gurmail Baljit Singh and Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap as the three attackers who opened fire on Siddique. The police has arrested Singh and Kashyap along with seven more accused so far. Gautam, who was the third shooter, along with mastermind Moahammed Zeeshan Akhtar and conspirator Shubham Lonkar is absconding.
An official said that the five accused, who were arrested on Friday, were contacted first by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to murder Siddique. However, the group demanded Rs 50 lakh to execute the attack, but backed out later as their demand was not met. However, they provided logistical and other support to those involved in shooting the former MLA dead, they said. The city police's crime branch on Friday held the five accused. The five men have been identified as Nitin Sapre (32), Ram Kanojia (44), Sambhaji Kisan Pardhi, Pradeep Thombre (37) and Chetan Pardhi (27).
“During their interrogation, the investigating team learnt that the module led by Sapre had demanded Rs 50 lakh from the mediator to kill Siddique. But that did not work out. So, due to the disagreement over contract, they decided to back out. But they decided to give logistical support to the new shooters and provide other help,” an official said.
The investigators have found that the module led by Sapre was in contact with Shubham Lonkar and Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar till the firing, the official said. According to sources, the accused used social media platform Snapchat to communicate with each other. On the instruction of the handler, who is a suspected member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, these messages were later deleted.
The police have also recovered a photograph of Zeeshan Siddique from the smartphone of one of the accused. The photograph was shared with the accused by their handler through Snapchat.
The police have also arrested Harishkumar Balakram Nisad (23) and Shubham Lonkar’s brother Pravin Lonkar as conspirators in the case.