Baba Siddique Killing: Shooter's Mother Claims Son Went For Scrapyard Job In Pune But 'Never Picked Calls'

The mother of an accused in the Baba Siddique murder case on Sunday said that her son went to Pune for employment in a scrapyard and claimed she had no idea about his movement in Mumbai. She added that her son never picked up her calls and refused to comment on the ruling party leader’s killing.

“He went to Pune to work in a scrapyard. I knew only this. I was not aware of what he was doing in Mumbai…He came home in Holi. After that, he did not come. He was not talking to me even on calls so I cannot say anything about the incident. His age is around 18-19 years,” said the mother of an accused in the Baba Siddique murder case.

Baba Siddique Shot Dead

Baba Siddique, a former Maharashtra minister and senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Ajit Pawar, was killed after being shot by three individuals in Bandra East, Mumbai, on Saturday evening.

The Mumbai Police confirmed that Baba Siddique was shot dead outside the office of his MLA son, Zeeshan Siddique, near Colgate Ground in Nirmal Nagar.

Two people have been arrested in connection with his killing. The two accused–Karnail Singh from Haryana and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh–claimed during interrogation that they belonged to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, a notorious gangster currently in jail, Crime Branch sources said.

The third person involved in his killing is still on the run. The police said they suspect the involvement of a fourth person in the case who was allegedly relaying information about Siddique’s movement to the attackers.

Attackers Tracked Siddique’s Movement For 2 Months

The attackers who killed NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique outside his son’s office on Saturday had made preparations all in advance and tracked his whereabouts for over two months, sources said.

The police sources said they are probing the ‘contract killing’ angle in the case as they suspect the mastermind in the case, who is still unknown, made payment to killers to attack without warning.

The three accused in the murder of Baba Siddique received their weapons through a prepaid courier just days before the shooting and were paid Rs 50,000, according to police sources.

The accused had been living in a rented room in Kurla since September 2, paying a monthly rent of Rs 14,000, sources claimed. They also revealed that the three accused met while incarcerated in a jail in Punjab. The Mumbai police have sought assistance from the Uttar Pradesh police to locate the third accused.

The politician, who took a big jump in February this year by ending his four-decade-long ties with the Congress and joining the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, had received a death threat just 15 days ago and was under ‘Y’ category security.