Siddique murder: With assembly polls around, need to probe political rivalry angle, cops tell court

Mumbai, Oct 13 (PTI) A Mumbai court on Sunday remanded one of the two alleged shooters in the Baba Siddique murder case in police custody till October 21 and ordered a bone ossification test on the other after he claimed he was a minor.

Siddique (66) was shot at in Nirmal Nagar area of Bandra East at around 9:30pm on Saturday, and he succumbed to injuries in nearby Lilavati Hospital some time later.

Seeking the remand of accused Gurmail Singh, from Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh native Dharamraj Kashyap, police told court it wanted to probe if the case was a result of political rivalry since Maharashtra assembly polls are round the corner.

The police also said 28 live bullets were recovered from the accused and custodial interrogation was needed to find out details as well as to prevent occurrence of any further crime.

Ten teams have been formed to investigate the case, in which two persons are still wanted, police said.

The court remanded Singh in police custody till October 21, while a bone ossification test was ordered on Kashyap to determine his age.

The court directed police to produce Kashyap again after completion of the test, following which it will be decided if proceedings against him will be held in regular court or in a juvenile court.

At the start of the remand application hearing, Kashyap told court he was 17 years old, hence a minor.

Police, however, told court an Aadhaar Card they have recovered showed his age to be 21. Police also said they have not seized any other document that could verify Kashyap’s age.

The court then halted the proceedings and asked the prosecution to produce the Aadhaar card in question. The police submitted a picture of the card taken on the mobile phone of one of its officers.

The court asked the defence to confirm if the details on the Aadhaar card were correct. The defence lawyer said the details were correct.

However, the photograph on the card was not that of Kashyap. But the court proceeded with the remand hearing.

Seeking 14-day remand of the two accused, police said the duo had stayed in Mumbai and Pune for a few days before the firing incident and there was need to find out who was funding them.

A probe was also needed to find out how the two procured the weapon and vehicle used in the crime as well as details of who imparted firing training, police told court.

The person killed was not any ordinary person, but a former minister with security and still they managed to shoot him, the prosecution said.

It was a sensitive crime and with assembly elections just round the corner, there is need to probe if any political rivalry is involved, police told court.

Police also said it needed to probe if there was an international link in the case.

Advocate Sidharth Agarwal, appearing for the two accused, contended the crime was “very sad and disheartening”, but the role of the duo was not established.

He might have been killed due to political rivalry and the two accused are falsely implicated in the case, Agarwal argued.

The court, after hearing both the sides, sent Singh to police custody and ordered a bone ossification test on Kashyap.

Siddique was a three-time Congress MLA from Bandra West assembly constituency, though he lost in 2014 and 2019.

A prominent Muslim leader of the metropolis, Siddique, who was also famous for his friendship with several Bollywood A-listers, recently joined the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.