The Mumbai Police, apart from probing the involvement of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang in the sensational murder of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, is also looking into the possible role of a well-known Mumbai builder, sources have told CNN-News18.
Sources in Mumbai Police said a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project was “very close to Baba Siddiqui and he was very vocal about it”. Siddique and his son, Congress MLA Zeeshan, had been protesting against two slum redevelopment projects — Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar and Bharat Nagar — in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) for the past few months.
Local media outlets had reported that Siddique was objecting to the project as the people living in the shanties were kept in the dark about the size of the homes that they would receive post-redevelopment.
While so far police have said they have no conclusive evidence, they are verifying claims that the builder under scanner paid the gang for the NCP leader’s contract killing. This also worked for Bishnoi as he too considered Siddique his enemy.
For now, police are hopeful that the case will be cracked “very soon”.
The murder of Siddique, 66, has sent shockwaves across the country. The leader was waylaid by three persons at Kher Nagar in Mumbai’s Bandra area just outside his MLA son’s office and shot at on Saturday night. He was rushed to the Lilavati Hospital where he was declared dead, according to Mumbai Police.
Three people — Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap, Gurmail Baljit Singh, and Pravin Lonkar — were arrested in connection with the case. However, Shivkumar Gautam, who allegedly fired the shots, remains absconding and apparently holds the key to who gave out the orders to kill Siddique.
Siddique was laid to rest on Sunday night with state honours in the presence of a large number of people and political leaders across the spectrum amid tight security.
After spending decades in the Congress, Siddique, who won from Mumbai’s Bandra West assembly seat in 1999, 2004 and 2009, joined Ajit Pawar’s NCP earlier this year.
Siddique had earned praise for supplying life-saving medicines to patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. He was also known for his grand Iftar parties that were attended by top Bollywood actors. A prominent Muslim leader from Mumbai, Siddique was known to be close to several Bollywood stars, including Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Sanjay Dutt.
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