MUMBAI: Mumbai police crime branch has made the fourth arrest in the Baba Siddique murder case. Harishkumar Nisad (23), a scrap dealer in Pune, was arrested from Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh on Monday. His name has surfaced in the case for the first time.
The police produced Nisad before a magistrate court, which remanded him to police custody till October 21. They informed the court that Nisad was also part of the conspiracy to kill Siddique and had provided financial help for the operation.
The crime branch informed the court that Nisad had provided money to the others involved in the crime, and a probe was necessary to find information about bank accounts and other modes of transactions Nisad used. The police said they also have to ascertain how he supplied weapons used in the crime to the other arrested accused.
Nisad is the third accused in Siddique’s murder hailing from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh. Police have already arrested Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19), who was one of the three assailants, from the murder spot immediately after the killing on Saturday night. Absconding accused Shivkumar Gautam, who is the third suspected shooter, also hails from the same place and both of them worked at a scrap shop or warehouse in Pune.
During the remand hearing, the police told the court that Nisad and Kashyap belonged to the same village as the wanted accused, Shivkumar Gautam. Nisad ran a scrap shop in Pune, where Gautam used to reside and further investigation is necessary to gather information about Gautam’s whereabouts, the police said.
However, Nisad’s lawyer Ajay Dubey argued that his client was “victim of the circumstances” and he is being made a scapegoat. The court heard both sides and remanded the accused in police custody.
Police had earlier arrested Haryana resident Gurmail Baljit Singh (23) and Kashyap and Pravin Lonkar, while three accused including ShivkumarGautam, Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar and Shubham Lonkar are still at large.
According to the police, Shubham and Pravin gave the contract to kill Siddique to Akhtar, who hired the three assailants. Nisad was also involved in the conspiracy and provided cover and money for the crime, they said.
Baba Siddique (66) was shot dead by three assailants outside the office of his son Zeshan Siddique, who is the sitting Congress MLA, at Bandra on Saturday night around 9.30pm.
The officials said the crime branch is probing various angles, including a possible contract killing, business or political rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project. A post on a Facebook page of Subham Lonkar indicated that the former minister was killed because of his proximity with actor Salman Khan. As per the police, Shubham Lonkar, who is yet to be apprehended, is allegedly associated with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
According to reports, 10 policemen from the Nirmal Nagar police station, who caught the two shooters who allegedly opened fire, may soon get a reward. An official said that a group photograph recovered from Kashyap’s phone helped the police to identify the third shooter ShivkumarGautam.
