Man who shot Baba Siddique discussed plan with Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother: UP cop

Shooter Shiv Kumar, who was arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich on Sunday for killing NCP leader Baba Siddique last month, spoke to gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother Anmol Bishnoi about the murder plot, UP Special Task Force (STF) chief Amitabh Yash said on Monday.
The shooter was on the run and trying to flee to Nepal after murdering the 66-year-old NCP leader outside his MLA-son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Mumbai on October 12.
“During Shiv’s questioning, it was found that he and Dharmaraj, the shooter who was arrested earlier, are from the same village. Shubham Lonkar (accused), who used to run a scrap shop near their shop, had contacted them. He was made to talk to Anmol Bishnoi on Snapchat, during which the murder plan was made,” Amitabh Yash told India Today TV.
Shiv had used a 9.9 mm pistol to kill Baba Siddique and fired a total of six rounds at the former Maharashtra minister outside his son’s office building in Mumbai’s Bandra East. A total of three shooters were involved in Baba Siddique’s killing, all of whom have now been arrested.
Amitabh Yash said Lonkar, the accused, who is a resident of Maharashtra, and Yasin Akhtar, a resident of Punjab’s Jalandhar, had given logistical support to the shooters and provided weapons to them. “These people had provided the location of the victim to the shooters,” he said.
The UP STF chief said that Rs 10 lakh was to be given to the shooter after the murder, and he was supposed to get more money every month. However, the money was not delivered to the shooter.
“They reached Pune from Mumbai and Jhansi by train and Lucknow and Bahraich from Jhansi. On the way, they asked for help from their companions to get shelter in Nepal. For this, they used the mobile of a co-passenger on the train,” he said, adding that the STF had been tracking the accused before being arrested in Bahraich.
“They were arrested at the right time. If they had crossed the border, their arrest would have become complicated and we might have had to wait for a long time,” Amitabh Yash said further.
Along with Shiv, the Mumbai Police also arrested four individuals, including Anurag Kashyap, the brother of shooter Dharmaraj Kashyap, who had provided shelter to Shiv.
The Lawrence Bishnoi gang had claimed responsibility for Baba Siddique’s killing.