Siddique shooter promised passport for fleeing country, claim police

The masterminds of the murder of Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique had promised to obtain a passport based on fake documents for one of the shooters so that he could escape abroad, police said in Srinagar on Thursday.

They also paid the shooter, Gurnail Singh (23), Rs 50,000, a police official told PTI.

Siddique, a former Maharashtra minister, was shot dead outside the office of his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique in Bandra area here on October 12.

Gurnail and another alleged shooter Dharmaraj Kashyap were arrested immediately after the attack, whereas their accomplice Shivkumar Gautam managed to flee.

Gurnail Singh, a resident of Kaithal in Haryana, had a murder case registered against him in 2019, the official said.

He had fear of being convicted in that case and wanted to flee the country, as per the probe.

The conspirators promised to help him leave India by obtaining a passport based on fake documents for him, the police official said.

Shivkumar, Dharmaraj and Gurnail were from the "second module" of the shooters who were in contact with 'conspirator' Shubham Lonkar and 'mastermind' Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar, he said.

Shivkumar and Dharmaraj were allegedly paid Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh to execute the killing.

As per the Mumbai crime branch which is investigating the case, a "module" based in Thane, comprising Nitin Sapre and Ram Kanoujia, initially received the contract to kill Siddique.

They conducted a recce of Siddique's house and office for several days, the official said, adding that Rupesh Mohol (21), Karan Salvi (19) and Shivam Kohad (20) were also with them. Mohol, Salvi and Kohad were arrested from Pune on Thursday.

Sapre and Kanoujia demanded Rs 50 lakh for executing the killing, but the conspirators felt the sum was too big. The module led by Sapre then backed out, and a new set of shooters, including Gurnail Singh, was engaged by the conspirators, the official said.

Before that, Kanoujia had visited Udaipur with Bhagwatsingh Omsingh (also arrested) on July 7 to get the pistols that were eventually used in the crime.

The conspiracy to kill Siddique was hatched in the second half of June.

As the weapons were sourced from north India, Mumbai police suspect that those who ordered the hit on Siddique were based in that part of the country, the official said.

Wanted accused Zeeshan Akhtar, who is from Jalandhar, was in Haryana in July and stayed at the residence of Amit Hisamsingh Kumar. Amit Kumar, now arrested, was an important link between Akhtar and Gurnail Singh, the official said.

So far, the police has arrested 14 persons in the case.