The Mumbai Police have recovered a gun, one of the arms used to kill former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique. This is the third gun seized by the police, three days after Mr Siddique was shot dead outside the office of his son, MLA Zeeshan Siddique, in Bandra East. Following the interrogation of the accused, police found a black bag with a gun in it, close to the crime scene.
On Saturday night, Baba Siddique, 66, was shot dead at Kher Nagar in Mumbai's Bandra area. The incident took place at around 9:30 pm, under the cover of a Dussehra procession and fireworks.
A reconstruction of the assassination explains that the three shooters and a co-conspirator had stationed themselves close to Mr Siddique's waiting car. As he came out of the office and tried to get inside the car, the killers let off some device that covered the area in thick smoke. Many thought it was the smoke from the firecrackers, which also masked the noise of gunshots.
The three shooters fired six rounds, hitting Mr Siddique on the chest and stomach. One of his aides also sustained gunshot wounds.
The three killers involved are Gurmail Baljit Singh, 23, a resident of Haryana, and 19-year-old Dharmaraj Kashyap and Shiv Kumar Gautam, also known as Shiva, from Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh. While Gurmail and Dharmaraj have been arrested, the third shooter is on the run.
Mumbai Police's crime branch has also arrested 28-year-old Pravin Lonkar, a "co-conspirator" in the case, from Pune.
The interrogation revealed that Gurmail and Dharmaraj were to fire shots but after seeing the crowd, Shivkumar took the lead.
All three shooters were carrying chili powder with them. As soon as bullets were fired, they threw chili powder at the police constable. Shivkumar fled the crime scene.
Gurmail and Dharmaraj were caught soon after with two guns and 28 live shots.
The trio had been monitoring Mr Siddique for months and had recced the shooting spot. They received arms days before the assassination and were paid Rs 50,000 each in advance.
Mr Siddique was cremated with full state honours on Sunday evening in Mumbai.
