Baba Siddique Murder Case Accused Not Minor, Confirms Test

New Delhi: An ossification test of one of the accused, Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap, in the murder case of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, has proved he is not a minor. Kashyap, Gurmail Baljit Singh (23), and another aide at the spot during the firing were produced before the court by the crime branch team, according to News18.

During the court proceedings, Kashyap’s lawyer claimed he was a minor. Later, the court ordered an ossification test of Kashyap on Sunday in which it was proved that he was not a minor. Kashyap was later sent to police custody till October 21.

Three men waylaid Siddique, 66, a former Maharashtra minister who joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in February this year after quitting the Congress, at Kher Nagar in Mumbai’s Bandra area just outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office and shot him dead on the night of October 18. Soon after, the Mumbai Police arrested three accused – Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap, Gurmail Baljit Singh, and Pravin Lonkar, in connection with the case. Shivkumar Gautam, also a shooter, remains absconding. Twenty-eight-year-old Lonkar from Pune, whom the police called a “co-conspirator” in the case. Lonkar is also implicated in the conspiracy and is the brother of Shubham Lonkar who is involved in the firing case. The brothers had “enlisted” Kashyap and Shivkumar Gautam in the plot, the police said.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police were also verifying a social media post, attributed to a purported member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, owning up to the murder of Siddique. Notably, some Bishnoi gang members had been held in connection with the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence in Mumbai in April this year, the report added.

Siddique, a prominent Muslim leader from Mumbai, was also known to be close to several Bollywood stars, including Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Sanjay Dutt.

Officials told PTI that the Mumbai police have launched a probe into the murder from different angles, including a possible contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project. Siddique’s murder is suspected to be a pre-planned act, a police officer was quoted as saying. A team from the Special Cell of Delhi Police is also set to be dispatched to Mumbai to assist in the investigation of Siddique’s murder, police sources said.

The shooters opened four to five rounds of fire from a 9.9 MM pistol which was recovered by police, police said. Further investigation is underway. Baba Siddique’s assassination is the first high-profile political murder in Mumbai in the last three decades.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Opposition parties, including the Congress, alleged a “complete collapse” of law and order in Maharashtra where Assembly polls are due next month. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the NCP, the ruling parties in the state, asserted that those involved in the killing of Siddique will not be spared, and slammed the Opposition for indulging in “petty politics” on the crime.