The main accused in the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique has revealed the motive for the murder to the police. Shiv Kumar Gautham, the shooter, said he was asked to kill Siddique by gangster Anmol Bishnoi over the latter's involvement in the 1993 Mumbai blast case and his connections with Dawood Ibrahim.
Gautham's confession is included in the chargesheet filed by the police over the October 12 murder of the former Maharashtra minister. Siddique was shot dead outside the office of his MLA son, Zeeshan Siddique, in Mumbai on October 12.
Gautham told police that he was asked to target either Baba Siddique or Zeeshan. He was offered Rs 15 lakh in return. He added that he used to collect junk in Pune and sell it to co-accused Dharmaraj Kashyap.
"It was Kashyap who introduced me to Shubham Lonkar and his brother Praveen Lonkar. One day Shubham (Subbu) told me that he worked for gangster Anmol, who was the brother of Lawrence Bishnoi. Subbhu offered us Rs 15 lakh if we could get a job done. He said we had to kill a person named Baba Siddique or his son Zeeshan. He, however, was reluctant to give additional information," Gautham said.
"Subbu got back to us after a few days, asking if we were ready to do the job or were scared. We agreed. One day, Subbu made a call to Anmol via the Snapchat app on his phone. Anmol told us that the person we had to kill was linked to Dawood Ibrahim and had a role in the Mumbai blast," he said, adding that he was also told that someone from the organisation would put up a post on Facebook after the murder. "I also came to know that Subbu had sent another man, Gurmel Singh, from Amritsar to join us in carrying out the murder."
Gautham said he was asked to train to use the firearm which they did at the forest near the Khopoli Railway Station.
Gautham said he and Kashyap identified Siddique from Google pictures and the posters put up outside his office.
Meanwhile, Gurmel Singh, told police that he was introduced to Anmol by Mohammad Zishan Akhtar alias Jassi, a henchman of the Bishnoi gang, at Kaithal jail in Haryana. "Jassi shared his Instagram ID with me and asked me to message him once I was released,” Singh told police.
"Jassi gave me a number starting with +351…, saying it was Anmol’s international number. He showed me his WhatsApp profile as well and said he communicated with Anmol on that number," Singh said.
He claimed Jassi was also introduced to Akash Chauhan. "In August 2022, following instructions from Anmol and Chauhan, Jassi informed me that there was a big job in Mumbai and asked me to go to Mumbai. He assured me that two boys would meet me there and brief me about the task. He also promised me Rs 50,000 for this job and said he would send me abroad afterwards," Singh claimed.
He arrived in Mumbai via the Amritsar-Dadar Express train and soon contacted Anmol to inform him about his arrival. He was also asked by Jassi to contact Gautam and Dharamraj Kashyap.
The trio stayed in Kurla in a room rented by Gautam, who also showed him the pictures of Baba and Zeeshan Siddique. "After getting the two weapons, the shooters were given one motorcycle to conduct a recce in the area. We started to discuss how to execute the murder plan on Snapchat," he said.
The trio conducted recces multiple times. "On the day of the murder, we learnt that both father and son were at the Kherwadi office. So, we waited in Kherwadi for Siddique and Zeeshan. There was a massive crowd of revellers on the road as it was Dussehra. We learnt that Zeeshan had left the area in his car after we arrived at the spot," Singh said.
The trio then pumped bullets in the chest of Siddique who was seen walking towards his car parked a few metres away from the office.
