NEW DELHI, Nov 10: In a major breakthrough, Shiv Kumar Gautam, the main accused and one of the three shooters to kill the Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique in Mumbai last month, was nabbed from Nanpara, Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh during a joint operation on Sunday led by the state’s special task force and a unit of the Mumbai crime branch.
Sources said he was trying to flee to Nepal. Four others — Anurag Kashyap, Gyan Prakash Tripathi, Akash Srivastava and Akhileshendra Pratap Singh – have been arrested for giving shelter to Shiv Kumar and helping him to try to escape to Nepal. Mr Siddique, 66, was shot dead by three gunmen in Mumbai’s Bandra area on October 12 and earlier, 20 people — including the two other shooters — were arrested in the case. Shiv Kumar was on the run since Mr Siddique’s murder. With Shiva Kumar and the four people arrested on Sunday, the total number of people arrested in connection with the case has reached 24.
Shiv Kumar, the police said, was one of the three shooters and also the person who was in touch with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. All instructions from the gang were routed through him. After the murder of Baba Siddiqui, Shiv Kumar had to go to Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, to meet some henchmen of gang. The Mumbai police had tracked him to Omkareshwar but failed to catch him.
Police sources said Shiv Kumar admitted during interrogation that he was linked to the Lawrence BIshnoi gang. The murder, he allegedly said, was carried out on the instructions of brother of Lawrence, Anmol Bishnoi, who is believed to be currently living in the United States shifting from Canada, where he lived earlier.
Anmol Bishnoi’s name has cropped up in the murder of Punjabi singer-politician Sidhu Moosewala in 2022, and the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence in Mumbai in April. He is on the most-wanted list of the National Investigation Agency and a ₹ 10 lakh reward has been announced for his arrest.
Baba Siddique was shot dead apparently because of his close relationship with Bollywood actor Salman Khan. Bishnoi’s associates have hinted that the grouse against Salman Khan is about the blackbucks he killed 20 years ago. Blackbucks are sacred to the Bishnoi community. Investigators said Baba Siddique’s son, Mumbai MLA Zeeshan Siddique, is also a target for the same reason. His photo has been found on a cell phone seized from one of the three men who shot his father.
Gurmail Singh, a native of Haryana and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh along with Shiva Kumar were the other two who accompanied Shiva Kumar in murdering Siddique, who was shot dead in front of his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office.
“Shiv Kumar fired at Baba Siddiqui, while Dharmraj was carrying chili spray. However, before he could use it, Shiv had already opened fire. Three constables were present with Baba at the time but failed to do anything,” DCP crime branch Datta Nalawade had said while speaking to reporters last month. The duo were arrested earlier by the Mumbai police.
(Manas Dasgupta)
