The Bombay High Court on Monday granted bail to a man from Punjab who is accused in the murder of former Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique.
On October 12, 2024, Siddique was shot dead allegedly by three men in Mumbai’s Bandra East area.
On Monday, a single-judge bench of Justice Neela Gokhale found no prima facie evidence linking 22-year-old Akashdeep Karaj Singh to the murder of the alleged crime syndicate, led by Anmol Bishnoi, that is named in the chargesheet.
Singh, who hails from a village in Punjab’s Fazilka district, was arrested in November 2024 and is the first suspect to secure bail in the case, the Hindustan Times reported.
Gokhale noted that while the acts allegedly committed by the crime syndicate led by Anmol Bishnoi were serious offences and the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act were invoked correctly, there was insufficient material to show Singh’s involvement at this stage, Bar and Bench reported.
“I am unable to form an opinion that there are reasonable grounds, at this stage, for believing that the accusations against [Singh]...under the [organised crime act] are prima facie true,” the court held.
The prosecution had argued that Singh was an active member of the syndicate, citing alleged calls to co-accused Sujit Singh, unspecified international calls, a photograph of him holding a gun and an alleged cash deposit in Punjab that was later received in a Mumbai bank account.
The court found these claims inadequate to meet the stringent requirements for denying bail under Section 21(4) of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
“Merely putting through a call to the mobile phone of [Sujit Singh] prima facie does not connect [Singh] with the organised crime syndicate, unless it is demonstrated that [Singh] had knowledge of [Sujit Singh] being engaged in assisting in any manner, an organised crime syndicate,” the court held. '“This fact can be established only during the trial.”
The bail was granted subject to several conditions, including a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh with local sureties, reporting to investigating officers every alternate Monday and a restriction on leaving Maharashtra or India without the court’s permission.
The court clarified that the order applied only to Akashdeep Karaj Singh, keeping all other contentions in the case open, and allowed the prosecution to move for cancellation of bail if any condition was violated, The Indian Express reported.
Singh had approached the High Court after a sessions court rejected his bail plea in July. He had contended that the allegations against him were “vague and baseless”.
After Siddique’s death in 2024, Shubham Lonkar, an alleged member of Lawrence Bishnoi’s group, had in a social media post claimed responsibility for the killing.
Lonkar had said then that Siddique was killed because of his close relationship with Khan and alleged connections to members of the underworld, including Dawood Ibrahim.
The chargesheet also names Anmol Bishnoi, the younger brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, accusing him of carrying out the killing to create an atmosphere of fear and establish the Bishnoi gang’s dominance in Mumbai.
Anmol Bishnoi was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in November after he was brought to India following his deportation from the United States.
Besides Anmol Bishnoi, the police have arrested 26 persons in the case.
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