Shiv Kumar Gautam, one of the assailants who shot dead Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique on 12 October and was arrested from Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich, has revealed shocking details to Mumbai Police on the Lawrence Bishnoi gang’s involvement in the incident.
Gautam told Mumbai Police during interrogation that the Larence Bishnoi gang had assigned him the task of killing either Baba Siddique, or his son Zeeshan Siddique. Anmol Bishnoi, brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, had instructed him to shoot whomever he came across first.
Shiv Kumar Gautam told Mumbai Police that he was tasked by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to kill either Baba Siddique or his son Zeeshan.@kotakyesha |#LawrenceBishnoiGang #BabaSiddique #mumbaipolice https://t.co/2QnVttBUmP pic.twitter.com/bnt6Ea0Of8
— News18 (@CNNnews18) November 12, 2024
Police also arrested four individuals – Anurag Kashyap, Gyan Prakash Tripathi, Akash Srivastava, and Akhilesh Pratap Singh – for providing him shelter and helping his bid to flee the country. Siddique (66) was shot dead by three gunmen in Mumbai’s Bandra area on 12 October.
Gautam’s arrest brought the total number of arrests in the Baba Siddique murder case to 23. A joint team of UP’s Special Task Force earlier said that the group was attempting to escape to Nepal via the porous border near Bahraich.
How Did Shiv Kumar Gautam Escape?
Gautam disclosed that he, along with two accomplices, conducted extensive surveillance of Siddique in Mumbai. On 12 October, amid a crowded festival atmosphere, they took advantage of an opportunity to kill the NCP leader. Gurmail Singh, a native of Haryana, and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh, were the other two shooters who were detained on the spot.
According to Mumbai Police, Gautam changed his appearance after the assassination, and observed the commotion at the spot for a considerable amount of time, mingling with the crowd to avoid being identified. He later took an auto to Kurla Station and boarded a local train to Thane.
After reaching Thane, he boarded an express train to Pune and disposed of his mobile phone to avoid being traced. He stayed in Pune for about seven days, then traveled to Jhansi by train, where he stayed for five days. He next went to Lucknow and bought a new mobile phone to contact his associates.
Baba Siddique Murder Case: Shiv Kumar से पूछताछ में खुलासा,शूटर को किसी एक की हत्या का काम सौंपा था#ShivKumar #BabaSiddique #SalmanKhan #ZeeshanSiddique #BreakingNews #PunjabKesariTV pic.twitter.com/yPzMIN8vOU
— Punjab Kesari (@punjabkesari) November 12, 2024
Gautam stayed in Lucknow for about 11 days before going to Bahraich, where he was arrested. His associates had arranged a safe house for him in a nearby village. Gautam only used public transportation to travel from Mumbai to Bahraich and was planning to flee to Nepal on 10 November following instructions from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
The accused told police that he had plans to go to Ujjain, then Vaishno Devi before fleeing abroad, which was foiled by his arrest. During his escape from Mumbai, he had contacted co-accused Anurag Kashyap using a passenger’s phone, who was traveling to Jharkhand.
How Did Mumbai Police Catch Him?
The Crime Branch of Mumbai Police had been tracking Shiv Kumar Gautam for 21 days, tracing various people connected to him. Police had collected detailed data on Gautam’s family and close associates, covering 45 individuals who were under surveillance.
Gautam had been in regular touch with Shubham Lonkar, a scrap dealer, who connected him with Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother, and was in touch with Zeeshan Akhtar before and after the murder. Investigation gradually narrowed down to four suspects – Gyanprakash Tripathi, Anurag Kashyap, Akhilesh Pratap Singh, and Akash Srivastava. A trap to nab the accused was laid on 10 November.
Shiv Kumar Gautam and Dharmraj Kashyap, two of the three shooters in the Baba Siddique’s murder case, hails from Gandara village in Bahraich, UP.Both of them are from the poor families of daily wage labourers. Their mothers Ushma and Suman.1/n#babasiddhique#LawrenceBishnoi pic.twitter.com/DOR9duOOeo
— Prateek Goyal (@tweets_prateekg) October 13, 2024
Additionally, the police said Rs. 2 lakh had been deposited into Anurag Kashyap’s bank account before the murder, which he then withdrew and gave to Gautam to purchase weapons. An investigation to identify the source of this money is underway. Furthermore, Rs. 5 lakh was found in the account of accused Harish Kumar Nishad.
Gautam has been remanded to police custody till 19 November. Lawrence Bishnoi’s younger brother Anmol, believed to be living in Canada, was allegedly behind the murder, but the motive remains unclear, police have said.
See Also: Amid Salman Khan-Lawrence Bishnoi Row, Vivek Oberoi’s Past Remarks on Bishnoi Community Resurface Online