Lawrence Bishnoi's gang has claimed responsibility for Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique's murder in Mumbai, according to a report by NDTV. Taking advantage of Dussehra firecrackers, three men waylaid Baba Siddique outside his son Zeeshan's office at Kher Nagar in Mumbai's Bandra East and shot at him on Saturday, October 13. Baba Siddique was taken to Lilavati Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Initiating an investigation into Baba Siddique's murder case, police on Sunday, October 13, said they were verifying a social media post in which an alleged member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang has taken responsibility for the murder of the former Maharashtra minister.
A police official stated that they have discovered a viral social media post, allegedly from a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, claiming responsibility for the murder of Baba Siddique. “We have seen the viral social media post, we are verifying its authenticity,” the official said.
Earlier in the day, NDTV reported that the two arrested accused in the case claimed to have links with the Bishnoi gang. However, there is no official confirmation by the police on the matter. The Mumbai Police has arrested two people in the case, twenty-three-year-old Gurmail Singh from Haryana and 19-year-old Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh. The initial investigation has revealed that the possible cause of Siddique's assassination would have been the gang's intention to increase impact in Mumbai, reported ANI.
The police investigation also found that the murderers had earlier done multiple recce of Baba Siddique's residence and office premises, and they had been living in Mumbai for one and a half to two months.
Baba Siddique was one of the top NCP leaders who had also served as a minister in the Maharashtra government earlier. The politician enjoyed a massive Muslim voter base in Mumbai and was close to several Bollywood stars, including Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Sanjay Dutt. Assailants had fired six rounds of bullets at Baba Siddique on Saturday. Three rounds hit the politician, and he was immediately rushed to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai. However, he succumbed to his injuries after some time.
Gang leader Lawrence Bishnoi had threatened Bollywood superstar Salman Khan several times over the 1998 Blackbuck killing case. The gang had also taken responsibility for a firing incident outside Salman Khan's house earlier in the year.
