Lawrence Bishnoi gang shooter claims ‘Baba Siddique had links with Dawood Ibrahim

A Lawrence Bishnoi gang shooter, who was arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura, has claimed that Baba Siddique of the Nationalist Congress Party was “not a good man” and had connections with India’s most-wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim.

Baba Siddique, 66, a former Maharashtra minister, was shot dead in the night of October 12 outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Mumbai’s upscale Bandra area.

Yogesh alias Raju (26), an associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi-Hashim Baba gangs, was addressing the media after being arrested in connection with last month’s killing of gym owner Nadir Shah in Delhi’s Greater Kailash area. However, he is not linked with Baba Siddique’s killing, reported news agency PTI.

Yogesh alias Raju was arrested after he suffered injuries in an encounter with a joint team of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell and the Mathura Police on Thursday morning. Police seized a .32-bore pistol, ammunition and a motorcycle from his possession.

After being shot in the leg, Raju was taken to the district hospital. He spoke about Baba Siddique while talking to reporters at the hospital on Thursday.

“Baba Siddique was killed because he was not a good man. There were charges against him under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). It is said that he was associated with Dawood, the man behind the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts,” Raju alleged.

“When people get involved with such individuals, something is bound to happen. This is exactly what happened to Siddique,” Raju added.

Talking about criminals gathering information before committing a crime, the shooter said, “These days we have mobile phones, the internet, Google and so on. We can find out a lot about a person through these means.”

Reacting sharply to Raju’s allegations, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi questioned why “he is giving media bytes like some action hero”.

“He’s one of the Bishnoi gang members and is also a shooter arrested in Late Baba Siddique ji’s case and he is giving media bytes like some action hero explaining his stunts and that too in a police station,” Priyanka Chaturvedi posted on X.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate slammed the police for standing behind him as a spectator while he is “justifying the murder of Baba Siddique”.

“This killer is giving interviews on TV with ease. Justifying the murder of Baba Siddique…. BJP has turned the country into a circus. Are the courts sleeping???” Supriya Shrinate posted in Hindi.

Five more persons were held on Friday for allegedly providing firearms and logistical support to the shooters in the Baba Siddique murder case, a Mumbai police official said, taking the total number of arrests in the sensational case to nine.

Prima facie, the five arrested accused were in touch with conspirator Shubham Lonkar and mastermind Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar, both absconding, the official said. According to police, Akhtar’s links were earlier established with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and he is allegedly one of the masterminds of Siddique’s killing.