Baba Siddique news: Probe reveals shooters, conspirators shared images, info through Snapchat

Baba Siddique murder case: Mumbai police on Saturday revealed that a picture of Baba Siddique's son Zeeshan Siddique was discovered in the phone of one of the arrested accused in the Baba Siddique murder case. The image was shared through Snapchat.

Mumbai police said, “Investigation revealed that the shooters and conspirators used Snapchat to share information with messages being deleted after instructions were given," reported ANI. According to the Mumbai police, the image was shared with the accused by their handler through Snapchat social media platform.

The arrested accused Ram Kanojia said that he was the first who was given the contract to kill the former Maharashtra minister, the Mumbai Crime Branch disclosed on Saturday. The Crime Branch further informed that the suspect had initially demanded one crore rupees, as revealed during interrogation.

Fugitive accused Shubham Lonkar reportedly handed over the contract to kill the NCP leader to Ram Kanojia, as per the registered statement. To execute with the murder conspiracy, Ram Kanojia, who hails from Maharashtra, had demanded a fee of one crore rupees.

“During interrogation by the Mumbai Crime Branch, Ram Kanojia disclosed that Shubham Lonkar initially offered the contract to him and Nitin Sapre to kill Baba Siddiqui,” ANI quoted the crime branch as saying.

The crime branch suggested that Ram Kanojia was aware of the "consequences of killing Baba Siddiqui, which is why he was hesitant to take the contract. This led him to demand one crore rupees for the job. Subsequently, Shubham Lonkar chose not to hire Ram Kanojia and instead selected shooters from Uttar Pradesh."

The statement mentioned that after Ram Kanojia and Nitin Sapre backed out, Shubham Lonkar hired Dharma Raj Kashyap, Gurnail Singh, and Shivkumar Gautam from Uttar Pradesh for the task.

Knowing that Uttar Pradesh shooters might not be fully aware of Baba Siddiqui's stature or reputation in Maharashtra, Shubham Lonkar was confident that they would agree to carry out the murder for a lower price.

(With ANI inputs)