An ossification test of accused Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap in the murder case of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique has proved he is not a minor. This comes after Kashyap, along with Gurmail Baljit Singh (23) and another aide, who was at the spot during the firing, was produced before the court by the crime branch team.
During the court proceedings, Kashyap’s lawyer claimed he was a minor. Later, the court had ordered an ossification test of Kashyap on Sunday in which it was proved that he was not a minor.
Kashyap was later sent to police custody till October 21.
Sixty-six-year-old Siddique, a former Maharashtra minister who joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in February this year after quitting the Congress, was waylaid by three men at Kher Nagar in Mumbai’s Bandra area just outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office and shot dead on Saturday night.
Soon after, the Mumbai Police arrested three accused – Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap, Gurmail Baljit Singh, and Pravin Lonkar, in connection with the case. Shivkumar Gautam, also a shooter, remains absconding.
Twenty-eight-year-old Lonkar from Pune, whom the police called a “co-conspirator” in the case. Lonkar is also implicated in the conspiracy and is the brother of Shubham Lonkar who is involved in the firing case.
The brothers had hatched the conspiracy to kill Siddique and enlisted Kashyap and Shivkumar Gautam in the plot.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police were also verifying a social media post, attributed to a purported member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, owning up to the murder of Siddique.
Notably, some Bishnoi gang members had been held in connection with the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence in Mumbai in April this year.
Siddique, a prominent Muslim leader from Mumbai, was also known to be close to several Bollywood stars, including Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Sanjay Dutt.
WHAT MUMBAI POLICE SAY
Officials told PTI that the Mumbai police have launched a probe into the murder from different angles, including a possible contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project.
The murder of Siddique is suspected to be a pre-planned act, a police official said.
A team from the Delhi Police’s Special Cell is also set to be dispatched to Mumbai to assist in the investigation of Siddique’s murder, police sources said.
The shooters opened four to five rounds of fire from a 9.9 MM pistol which was recovered by police, police said.
Further investigation is underway.
The assassination of Baba Siddique is the first high-profile political murder in Mumbai in the last three decades.
BABA SIDDIQUE’s MURDER SPARKS POLITICAL STORM
On Sunday, the Opposition parties, including the Congress, alleged a “complete collapse” of law and order in Maharashtra where assembly polls are due next month. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the NCP, the ruling parties in the state, asserted that those involved in the killing of Siddique will not be spared, and slammed the Opposition for indulging in “petty politics” on the crime.
The Congress demanded a thorough probe into Siddique’s murder and said Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis, who holds a home portfolio, should take moral responsibility for law and order “failure” and resign.
Such killings show that the law-and-order situation in the state has failed, the Opposition party said, claiming that the government was trying to postpone the election dates somehow through these incidents.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi said the Maharashtra government must take responsibility and order a thorough and transparent investigation.
“The tragic demise of Baba Siddique ji is shocking and saddening. My thoughts are with his family in this difficult time. This horrifying incident exposes the complete collapse of law and order in Maharashtra. The government must take responsibility, and justice must prevail,” Gandhi said on X.
“Justice must be ensured, and the present Maharashtra government must order a thorough and transparent investigation. The culprits must be brought to book at the earliest. Accountability is paramount,” Kharge posted on the social media platform.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “Today, the Maha Vikas Aghadi released a chargesheet against the Mahayuti Government, aptly titled ‘Gaddarancha Panchnama’.” Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Congress’ ally in Maharashtra, said each move of the Shinde government is looked upon with suspicion – “like the two arrests made in the murder of Siddique and even the police encounter of Badlapur sexual assault case accused Akshay Shinde”.
Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi, a Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra, said, “Maharashtra home minister should take responsibility for this and resign. Our condolences are with Baba Siddique’s family in this hour of grief.”
“Law and order has reached its lowest ebb. The responsibility for this lies with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis,” he said.
Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar also targeted the state government, saying there is a need to take responsibility for the incident and for the rulers to step down.
NCP (SCP) state president Jayant Patil asked, “If a leader from the ruling alliance is not safe, how can the government keep the common man safe?”
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal claimed that people across the country are “scared” by the killing of Siddique, and gangsters have created an almost similar atmosphere in Delhi.
“The incident of killing of an NCP leader in public in Mumbai has scared the people not only in Maharashtra but the whole country. They have created an almost similar atmosphere in Delhi. They want to bring Gangster Raj in the entire country. The public will now have to stand up to them,” Kejriwal said in a post on X.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav expressed shock at the murder of Siddique, asserting that the incident exposed the “crumbling” law and order situation in Maharashtra.
“The incident is shocking and saddening. I knew him personally as he was a native of Bihar’s Gopalganj district. If such an incident can take place in a city like Mumbai, especially in the Bandra area, one could say that no one is safe there.
“This shows the crumbling law and order situation in that state. My thoughts are with his family in this difficult time,” Yadav told reporters in Patna.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said such acts have no place in civil society.
However, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said his party leader Siddique’s murder should not be politicised and asserted that the state government will not rest till the guilty are brought to book.
“We are heartbroken, struggling to grasp the cruelty of this incident. This is not just a political loss, it’s a deeply personal tragedy that has shaken us all,” the NCP leader said in a post on X.
“I strongly urge everyone to resist the temptation to politicise this horrifying event,” he said.
The BJP said those involved in the killing of Siddique will not be spared.
“The entire country is saddened by his murder but the opposition leaders are indulging in petty politics on this issue,” BJP national spokesperson and former Union minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain told PTI.
Senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also slammed the Opposition leaders and said it was not right for them to make “insensitive remarks on such a sensitive issue”.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Fadnavis said police have found some leads in connection with the Siddique’s killing.
Different angles behind the killing were being probed, but police will talk about it later, Fadnavis told reporters in Gondia district.
“Some leads have been found, but I cannot reveal them now. Some angles behind the attack are also found, but police will talk about it once the legal procedure is over,” the BJP leader said.
Chief Minister Shinde said the incident is deeply regrettable.
“We have directed the police to ensure no one takes the law into their hands under any circumstances. We cannot allow any form of gang war to resurface in our city.”
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