How the Baba Siddique contract killing was executed

Less than 24 hours after former Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique was gunned down on a city street in Mumbai, pieces of the puzzle are falling in place. The police have wasted no time arresting three main accused – two of the three shooters and the brother of the main conspirator – in a trail that leads from Pune to Mumbai.
Interrogation of the two shooters, Dharmaraj Radhe Kashyap and Gurmail Singh, has laid bare an elaborate, premeditated plan executed with extreme precision, leaving no room for error. Police said their investigation has revealed that the murder was committed by members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang but they are yet to uncover the motive.
Police told HT that the main conspirator who executed the killing is an alleged gang operative of the Bishnoi gang. Called Shubham Remeshwar Lonkar, alias Shubuu, he had uploaded a post on social media on Sunday claiming responsibility for Siddique’s murder on behalf of the gang.
Also Read: The long chase after the bullets
Lonkar had hatched the plan a month ago in Pune, after which he sent two shooters – Dharmaraj Kashyap and Shiv Kumar Gautam – to Mumbai to kill Siddique, a senior police officer said. He said the third shooter, Gurmail Singh, is also a key Bishnoi gang member and was released on bail from a Haryana jail a month ago in a murder case. Singh was dispatched to Mumbai by Lonkar a few days ago, where he teamed up with Kashyap and Gautam.
Kashyap, Gautam and Singh were provided rented accommodation in Kurla (West) and had allegedly conducted reconnaissance several days before they killed Siddique on Saturday night. While Kashyap and Singh have been arrested, Gautam is on the run.
The Mumbai police said they are investigating various angles including political rivalry in the murder. “Fifteen police teams have been set up to investigate each aspect. We are looking for another accused, Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar,” said deputy commissioner of police, Datta Nalawade, of the Mumbai Crime Branch. Sources said ‘Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar’ is an alias for Mohammad Yasin Akhtar aka JC, Jassi and Sikandar. On Sunday night, police arrested Pravin Lonkar, brother of Shubham Lonkar, also allegedly involved in the case.
HT spoke to senior officers investigating the Siddique murder. This is what they know so far:
The murder took place between 9:15pm and 9.30 pm, when Baba Siddiqui stepped out of his son, Zeeshan’s office in Bandra (East), where they had met political party supporters to discuss plans for the upcoming assembly elections. Just after 9pm, Siddique emerged from Zeeshan’s office, speaking on his mobile phone. He walked 50 metres to the Kherwadi junction, where his car was parked. As soon as he reached his car, three men pulled up in an autorickshaw a few meters away, and walked towards Siddique. The wanted accused, Shivkumar Gautam, fired six bullets at Siddique – three bullets found their mark, two others hit his car. The sixth bullet injured a pedestrian.
During questioning, Kashyap told the police he had brought pepper spray to use on Siddique, if they needed to slow him down. He didn’t need to use it – Gautam had opened heavy fire on Siddique, he claimed.
All three accused fled the crime scene on foot. While Kashyap and Singh were nabbed by API Rajendra Dabade of the Nirmal Nagar police and his team, Gautam got away. Police are yet to find him. They have recovered two weapons and 28 rounds from the two accused.
Baba Siddiqui had not been given ‘Y’ category or any category-specific security, as reported in the media, police said. He had three constables for security. One constable was with him when he was shot but he says things happened so quickly, he had no time to react, said the police.
Shiv Kumar Gautam and Dharmaraj Kashyap hail from the same village in Uttar Pradesh. Gautam was working in a dairy in Pune, while Kashyap was working with a scrap dealer, also in in Pune. Gautam and Kashyap met Shubham Remeshwar Lonkar in Pune, where he was working at his brother’s dairy.
Lonkar is a resident of Akola district in Maharashtra and a suspected associate of the Bishnoi gang. Police found that Lonkar had supplied weapons to Bishnoi gang members in January this year and was arrested by the local police. He was released on bail in July, and has been absconding since. Lonkar is believed to be closely linked to Anmol Bishnoi, Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother.
Lonkar promised Gautam a handsome sum for killing Siddique. Gautam then convinced Kashyap and they were paid ₹50,000 each, as an initial instalment, for the murder. They were sent to Mumbai a month ago and provided a rented room in Kurla (West), so that they could conduct a reconnaissance and execute the murder, said a police officer.
Both of them allegedly collected weapons from a Bishnoi gang member in Ghatkopar a day before the murder – an Austrian-make Glock pistol and a country-made Glock -type pistol. Police have identified the weapons supplier as an alleged Bishnoi gang member.
Police suspect the shooters were receiving instructions on a regular basis. They have identified the individual and are on the lookout for him.
The third shooter, and one of the two accused arrested for Siddique’s murder, is Gurmail Singh, a native of Narar village of Kaithal district, in Haryana. Police said Singh has three cases registered against him in Kaithal, including a murder case of 2019, in which he was granted bail in 2023. During his stint at jail, he was booked in another case after a mobile phone was seized from him in 2022. In August this year, Singh was accused of assaulting a local man and a case was registered but he was absconding.
Singh’s grandmother Phuli Devi told the media in Kaithal that the family had disowned him 11 years ago. “His parents have passed away. He is nothing to us now.”
Dharmaraj Kashyap, the other alleged shooter who has been arrested, is a native of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, police said.
A case has been registered at the Nirmal Nagar police station for murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and common intention, under Sections 103(1), 109, 125, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Sections 3, 25, 5, and 27 of the Arms Act, and Section 37 and Section 137 of the Maharashtra Police Act.
The case is being investigated by the Mumbai Crime Branch’s Anti-Extortion Cell. A search for the third accused, Shiv Kumar Gautam, is underway..
In a social media post on Facebook, a user identified as ‘Shubuu Lonkar Maharashtra’ had claimed, “The death of Anuj Thapan, one of the accused who was arrested in the firing case at actor Salman Khan’s residence and died in police lock-up. We don’t have any enmity however whoever helps Salman Khan and others and gets killed we will take revenge from everyone.” The post was hashtagged ‘LawrenceBishnoiGroup’
A senior police officer said they are verifying the user. They have learnt he is from Akola and was arrested in a case relating to gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, and is on the run.
Police also said they are yet to find a connection between the firing on Salman Khan’s residence and Bishnoi. According to a senior officer, “We are also investigating the Facebook post uploaded on behalf of Lawrence. This is the initial stage of interrogation. We have got custody. We are investigating all angles.”
In the case registered with the Navi Mumbai police, where four people were arrested for carrying out reconnaissance on actor Salman Khan’s Panvel farmhouse, it was learnt that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang was planning to use minors in their criminal activities. It was a ploy to get the accused released on bail more easily than if they had deployed adults. The gangsters even had a plan to help them flee after committing crimes via Kanyakumari to Sri Lanka.