Baba Siddique murder case: Five more arrested after raids in Panvel, Raigad; number of arrests rises to nine

Five more persons were arrested on October 18, 2024 in connection with the Baba Siddique murder case, taking the total to nine, in Mumbai.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A week after NCP leader Baba Siddique (66) was assassinated, five more persons were arrested on Friday (October 18, 2024), taking the total number of arrests to nine, a Mumbai crime branch official said.

Crime Branch carried targeted raids in Panvel and Karjat in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, leading to the arrest of five persons involved in providing weapons and executing the crime. The accused are identified as Nitin Sapre (32) from Dombivli; Ram Kanojia (44), Ambernath; Sambhaji Pardhi (43) from Panvel; Pradeep Thombre (37) from Ambernath, and Chetan Pardhi (27) from Ambernath.

Former Minister Baba Siddique was shot on October 12 near his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Nirmal Nagar in Mumbai’s Bandra. After the shoot-out, police arrested four accused, Pravin Lonkar (28), Gurmail Baljit Singh (23), Dharamraj Kashyap (20), and Harishkumar Balakram Nisad (23). Currently, they are searching for Shivakumar Gautam and Zeeshan Akhtar and issued a Lookout Circular (LoC) against Shubham Lonkar on October 16.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gautam Lakhmi said, “Nitin Sapre was in touch with the main conspirator, Shubham Lonkar, and he supplied weapons to him in mid-September. The accused supplied three pistols used in the shoot-out. Police also found certain financial transactions made between them.

Police started looking for them after their name appeared during the interrogation of the arrested accused and in the technical analysis of evidence.

In the preliminary investigation, Police told Nitin was in touch with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, however, it is yet to be ascertained. Police claimed Nitin Sapre and Ram Kanojia were the ‘leaders’ of this group, have cases registered against them and will be produced in the Esplanade Court for remand custody.

Joint CP Lakhmi pointed out the Police are at level one, investigating the network that helped execute the crime and connecting the dots. “The second stage will be the arrest of conspirators Shubham Lonkar and Zeeshan Akhtar, and then everything will be clear,” he added.

Meanwhile, the son of Baba Siddique, Zeeshan Siddique on Friday (October 18, 2024), met Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar in the presence of Mumbai’s top police officers and took the update on the case. 

Salman Khan’s security increased

On Friday (October 18, 2024), Mumbai traffic police received a threat message on WhatsApp helpline. In the message, the Bishnoi gang demanded five crores to let Salman Khan live alive and end the “enmity” with Lawrence Bishnoi or Salman Khan’s condition would be “worse than Baba Siddique”. Mumbai police has been investigating the WhatsApp message and increased security outside the house of Salman Khan.