• Source:JND
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Shiv Kumar Gautam, alias Shiva, the main accused in the murder of Baba Siddiqui, was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) and Mumbai Crime Branch team in Bahraich. Along with him, four others who allegedly assisted in his escape to Nepal, have also been nabbed.

According to sources, cited by Jagran.com, Shiva revealed to the STF that he and his accomplices had spent three days conducting a recce of Baba Siddiqui before finally carrying out the murder on the day of Dussehra. Two other accused were caught on the spot by people, while Shiva fled the scene by discarding his phone and escaping to Pune. From Pune, he travelled via Jhansi and Lucknow to reach Bahraich. During his journey, he used a passenger’s phone to call Anurag Kashyap, who informed him that Akhileshendra, Gyan Prakash and Akash had arranged for his hiding in Nepal.

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Shiva further explained that he and another shooter, Dharamraj, hailed from the same village and had been working in the scrap business in Mumbai. His shop was next to that of Shubham Lonkar. Shubham had facilitated contact with Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother, Anmol Bishnoi, through Snapchat, and promised Shiva a sum of Rs 10 lakh for carrying out the murder. Additionally, it was assured that he would receive a monthly amount after the killing. Shiva mentioned that Shubham and Yaseen provided him with weapons, a mobile phone and a SIM card for the operation, including an additional phone and SIM to communicate afterwards.

NCP leader Baba Siddiqui was killed on October 12 outside his son Zeeshan Siddique’s office by three assailants. Following the murder, the Mumbai Police arrested two accused, Dharamraj Kashyap and Gurmel Singh, but Shiva managed to flee and eventually reached Bahraich. The arrested accused told the police that they had carried out the murder under the instructions of Lawrence Bishnoi.

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Shubham Lonkar, a resident of Maharashtra and Mohammad Yaseen Akhtar from Jalandhar, Punjab, were the handlers of the shooters, providing them with Baba Siddiqui’s location and the weapons used for the murder.