Baba Siddique shooters claim to be from Lawrence Bishnoi gang: Sources

The two accused arrested in the murder of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique have claimed they belong to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, police sources said.
The 66-year-old leader was attacked on Saturday night outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddiqui’s office in Mumbai’s Bandra East, and succumbed to injuries while under treatment.
The two arrested accused– Gurmail Baljit Singh, 23, from Haryana and Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap, 19, from Uttar Pradesh–claimed during interrogation that they belonged to the gang of Lawrence Bishnoi, a notorious gangster currently in jail, Crime Branch sources said. The gang was also allegedly involved in the firing at the Bollywood star Salman Khan, with whom Siddique had a close connection.
According to officials, the accused also claimed to have conducted a recce of the area for the past 25-30 days in preparation for the murder. The probe also found that the assailants were paid in advance and they received the arms a few days ago.
While the police arrested two individuals, a third accused, directly involved in the shooting, remains at large. Police sources stated that all three accused arrived at the shooting spot by auto-rickshaw and waited there for some time before opening fire on Siddique. The police suspect that another person, who was providing information to the shooters, was also involved in the murder.
Baba Siddique, who represented Bandra (West) seat three times in the assembly, is a prominent political figure from Mumbai. He served as Minister of Food and Civil Supplies and Labour under Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh between 2004 and 2008. In February this year, he switched to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknagh Shinde said that strong action will be taken against all the accused, while the Opposition slammed the government alleging failure of law and order. Ajit Pawar’s NCP and Shinde’s Shiv Sena are ruling partners in Maharashtra.
Calling it a “deeply disturbing and unfortunate incident”, he said, “I have instructed the police to ensure that law and order is maintained and not taken lightly. They have been directed to take the strictest action”.
Ajit Pawar described the attack as extremely unfortunate and condemnable and said, “We have lost a leader who fought for the minority community and championed secularism”.
Pointing out Siddique had Y-category security, Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat said the murder raises serious questions about the law and order situation. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray alleged that the incident “reflects on the failed law and order situation” in Maharashtra.