The Mumbai Police on Friday arrested five more persons in connection with the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique on October 12, The Hindu reported.
The police’s Crime Branch arrested them after carrying out raids in the Panvel and Karjat cities in the Raigad district. The arrested men have been identified as Nitin Sapre, Ram Kanojia, Sambhaji Pardhi, Pradeep Thombre and Chetan Pardhi.
With this, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to nine.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gautam Lakhmi said that Sapre had been in contact with Shubham Lonkar, alleged to be the main conspirator, and had supplied weapons to him in September. “The accused supplied three pistols used in the shootout,” the official said, according to The Hindu. “Police also found certain financial transactions made between them.”
The five accused men were on Friday produced before court and remanded to police custody, The Indian Express reported.
Siddique was shot dead allegedly by three men in Mumbai’s Bandra East area on the evening of October 12. Shubham Lonkar, an alleged member of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s group, had in a social media post claimed responsibility for the murder. He remains at large, but his brother Pravin Lonkar is among those who have been arrested.
Siddique’s murder took place on a day when the Mumbai Police was on high alert on account of Dussehra rallies that were being held by rival factions of the Shiv Sena. Opposition leaders criticised the state government for failing to ensure law and order and urged it to take responsibility for the killing.
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