Main shooter panicked, I took lead: Baba Siddique shooter

Shivkumar Gautam was produced in court on Monday. Pic/Ashish Raje

The investigation into the Baba Siddique murder case by the Mumbai Crime Branch has revealed that Gurmail Singh, who was arrested along with Dharmraj Kashyap near the crime scene, was the main shooter and was initially supposed to lead Kashyap and Shivakumar Gautam. Gautam was arrested 27 days after the murder from his hometown in Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh).

According to officials, this revelation surfaced after Gautam's arrest earlier this week. Gautam stated that, under instructions from the key conspirator Shubham Lonkar, Singh was intended to lead him and Kashyap. However, on the day of the incident, when Siddique was gunned down, the plan changed as Singh and Kashyap panicked. Gautam took the lead, shooting Siddique while a suspended police constable assigned to Siddique's protection stood seven to eight feet away.

Shivkumar, the main shooter

According to the Crime Branch, Gautam claimed that on October 13, when Zeeshan Siddique left his Bandra East office, his father walked towards the car in the direction where Singh and Kashyap were standing. Fearing that Siddique had discovered their motive, Singh and Kashyap hesitated and didn't open fire. Gautam, who was positioned on the other side, saw Siddique alone and, noticing Singh wasn't shooting, took the lead and fired multiple rounds. Two shots hit Siddique in the chest, causing him to fall.

The Crime Branch also revealed that Gurmail Singh has a criminal record, including a murder charge in Punjab, and was closely associated with the absconding conspirator Jasin Akhtar, alias Zeeshan. Akhtar connected Singh with Lonkar, and Singh then joined the team of shooters, playing a leadership role in reconnaissance efforts, as confirmed in the investigation.

Officials further stated that, during interrogation, Gautam disclosed that after the incident, he fled the scene. Unseen by anyone, he ran a few metres, dropped his bag and gun beneath a parked car, changed his clothes, and returned to the spot to observe. He even claimed to have gone to the hospital to check if Siddique had survived. However, officials are sceptical about this, given that he reportedly reached Thane around 10.47 pm, and the shooting occurred between 9.00 and 9.30 pm.

Gautam told the Crime Branch that after changing his clothes, he returned to the crime scene where he saw police taking two of his associates away in a vehicle. While he was standing there, other officers were searching for him, and one of them even asked if he had seen anyone fleeing the area. Gautam calmly denied this without panicking. Afterward, he took an auto-rickshaw to Lilavati hospital.

"It's difficult to believe that he went to the hospital, waited there for 30 minutes, and then made it to Thane by 10.47 pm," an officer said. The officials also mentioned that Gautam travelled to Kurla by auto after the shooting, then took a local train to Thane, and proceeded to Pune, from where he reached Lucknow and finally took a bus to his hometown, Bahraich.

However, he claims to have visited the hospital before going to Kurla. So far, the Crime Branch has arrested 23 accused in the case, including shooters and others involved in the conspiracy. However, the main conspirators, Lonkar and Akhtar, remain at large.