As police continues to search for the third shooter behind the killing of NCP leader Baba Siddique, sources told NDTV that the motive was gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's attempt to cause panic in Mumbai and to convey to fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim that the former is the city's don.
Siddique was fatally shot on Saturday outside his MLA son's office in Mumbai's Bandra. Police have so far arrested three persons - Gurmail Baljit Singh (23), a resident of Haryana, Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19), a native of Uttar Pradesh -- both alleged shooters - and "co-conspirator" Pravin Lonkar from Pune. Suspected "handler" Mohammad Yasin Akhtar is also wanted in the case. Wanted accused Shivakumar Gautam, who is from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, is absconding.
Sources told NDTV that Singh, Kashyap and Gautam were on the spot at the time of the shooting. The shooters had reached Mumbai 28 days before the murder and had conducted a recce at the leader's home and office five times.
The conspiracy to murder Baba Siddique was hatched in June and was planned by Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar. Akhtar planned the murder from outside Mumbai, ensuring the delivery of weapons to be used in the crime to Mumbai from Punjab. It is also suspected that the operation was planned by Lawrence's brother Anmol Bishnoi, who is based in the US.
READ | Shootout At Bandra: Baba Siddique's Murder And Flashbacks From '90s
Lawrence Bishnoi gang member Pravin Lonkar dropped the three shooters to Mumbai, while his brother Shubham Lonkar paid them Rs 50,000 each. Gautam was getting orders from the gang on Signal, Telegram and Snapchat, which he would convey to Singh and Kashyap, sources said. After the murder, Gautam wanted to visit Omkareshwar near Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain, where he had to meet a gang henchman.
Further, Siddique's security detail included two policemen. At the time of the shooting, they were changing duties, but the policeman present with the veteran politician did not fire, according to sources.
Mumbai Police seized two 9 mm foreign-made pistols, three mobile phones and the bike used in recce. The police also expressed shock that the crime was planned for the day of Vijay Dashmi, when there is tight security all over Mumbai. Cops also found that the shooters only planned to killed Baba Siddique and not his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique.
Meanwhile, police scoured places of worship in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain and Khandwa in their hunt for Gautam. The Mumbai Police have set up 15 teams which have fanned out of Maharashtra in search for individuals linked to the high-profile murder. They are verifying a social media post, attributed to a purported member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, owning up to the murder of Siddique.
