Siddique murder: Haryana shooter's family seeks exemplary punishment

Haryana-resident Gurmail Baljit Singh, accused of being one of the shooters who killed Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique, has a prior criminal history, including a murder case against him, the police said on Sunday.

Twenty-three-year-old Singh's family said they disowned him 11 years ago and have called for exemplary punishment for his actions.

The Mumbai police arrested two of the alleged assailants -- Singh from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh-native Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap.

The third accused, Shiv Kumar, is on the run and efforts are on to trace him, the police said.

The trio have been booked under relevant Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections, including for murder and under provisions of the Arms Act and the Maharashtra Police Act, they said.

Giving details of Singh's criminal record, Kaithal Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kalia told PTI that the accused was arrested in a murder case in 2019, in which he got bail later.

Another case was registered against him after a mobile phone was recovered from him in jail in 2022, the Haryana police officer said.

He had been booked in another case of beating a youth, he said.

Singh's grandmother Phuli Devi told reporters in Kaithal that the family disowned him 11 years ago. "His parents have passed away. The family has disowned him since past eleven years. He is nothing to us now," she told reporters at her residence in her Narar village.

Asked about what work Singh did, his grandmother said, "He did nothing. He came out of jail on bail. He was in jail for four years."

She said he should be given exemplary punishment as per law for his deeds.

The Mumbai police has launched a probe into the killing of the former Maharashtra minister from different angles, including a possible contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project, officials said on Sunday.

They were also verifying a social media post in which an alleged member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang has taken responsibility for the murder, police said.

Baba Siddique (66) was waylaid by three men at Kher Nagar in Mumbai's Bandra area just outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique's office and shot at on Saturday night.

He was taken to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai where he was declared dead.