Baba Siddique Shooters Claim To Be From Lawrence Bishnoi Gang: Sources

The two suspects arrested in the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique have claimed they belong to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, said sources. Cops haven't verified this claim while the gang is yet to admit responsibility for the murder that has sparked security concerns ahead of the Maharashtra state elections.

Baba Siddique, 66, a prominent politician from the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party and a former three-time MLA from Bandra West, was shot dead in Bandra last night.

At least six bullets were fired at Mr Siddique near his son's office and four hit him in the chest. Cops, who suspect it to be a contract killing, have formed four special teams to probe the case.

The shooting, that coincided with Dussehra festivities, was carried out by three men. Two men - Gurmail Baljit Singh, 23, from Haryana and Dharamraj Kashyap, 19, from Uttar Pradesh - were arrested while the third remains on the run. Cops, however, believe someone else was providing them with information about Mr Siddique's location.

During their interrogation by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, the two arrested suspects claimed they had been conducting a recce of the shooting spot in Bandra East for nearly a month, said sources.

The three accused arrived there in an auto rickshaw last night and waited for a while before the shooting took place, added the sources in the crime branch.

The cops are probing the case from two angles - one involving the Bishnoi gang and another related to a slum rehabilitation case.

The involvement of the Bishnoi gang is suspected due to Mr Siddique's proximity to Bollywood star Salman Khan, who had received threats from Lawrence Bishnoi. Sources close to the victim claim he had received a death threat 15 days ago and was given the ‘Y' category security cover.

Mr Siddique, however, did not report any threat from the Bishnoi gang, according to the police.

Central agencies are in touch with the Mumbai Police while cops in Gujarat and Delhi are also probing the case.

Lawrence Bishnoi, who faces dozens of criminal cases, is currently lodged in a jail in Gujarat, but his gang keeps making headlines over ransom calls to businessmen. Salman Khan has been on his "target list" over his infamous 1998 black buck hunting case.

Rohit Godara, a close aide of Bishnoi, had earlier claimed that anyone who was a friend of Salman Khan was their enemy.

Police sources suggest there are over 700 shooters in the Bishnoi gang and many small and big criminals across the country work for him. Bishnoi has also been linked to several murders in recent days, including those of rapper Sidhu Moosewala and a Delhi-based gym owner of Afghan origin.