The Mumbai Crime Branch has submitted a chargesheet against 26 individuals accused of involvement in the murder of businessman Baba Siddiqui. The chargesheet, presented before the MCOCA court, details the alleged conspiracy and criminal activities surrounding the high-profile case.
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The Mumbai Crime Branch has submitted a comprehensive 4,500-page charge sheet before the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court, detailing the involvement of 26 individuals in the high-profile murder of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddiqui. However, the police have not named gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in the charge sheet.
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The charge sheet, which was filed on Friday, includes the testimonies of 175 witnesses and sheds light on the organised crime behind Siddiqui's killing.
As per the Crime Branch’s investigation, the Bishnoi gang is said to have been responsible for the murder in a bid to assert its dominance in Mumbai's underworld.
The crime was reportedly committed with the intention of sending a message to Bollywood actor Salman Khan.
The key accused in the case are Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, and two other individuals – Shubham Lonkar and Zeeshan Akhtar.
Both Anmol and Akhtar, along with Lonkar, have been named as wanted criminals in connection with the murder. The police believe that they played significant roles in planning and executing the crime.
However, Lawrence Bishnoi’s name does not feature directly in the charge sheet, and he has not been listed as a wanted suspect, although he is said to have had indirect connections to the case.
Baba Siddique murder case: Accused says he was coerced into giving a confessional statement
Last month, one of the accused in the Baba Siddiqui murder case, Nitin Gautam Sapre, made a startling allegation against the police during a hearing before the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Court in Mumbai.
Speaking via video-conferencing, Sapre claimed that he was taken to the Borivali Police Station from judicial custody and was coerced into giving a confessional statement. He alleged that the police threatened to implicate his family if he refused to make a confession. “I was pressured to confess, and the police threatened that my family would be arrested if I didn’t cooperate,” Sapre told the court.
He has stated his intention to retract from his confession and plans to move an application before the court from jail. Sapre's legal representatives, Advocates Ajinkya Madhukar Mirgal and Omkar Inamdar, confirmed that they would file an application for retraction of his statement.
“My client was threatened to confess before the magistrate that he was in regular contact with Anmol Bishnoi and had provided shelter to two accused in the case. He was told that if he did not comply, his entire family would be dragged into the case. He was also beaten inside the lockup,” Advocate Mirgal alleged.
Sapre, arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch, was allegedly approached by wanted accused Shubham Lonkar to carry out the assassination of Baba Siddiqui. Along with his gang member Ram Kanoujiya, Sapre is accused of conducting a recce for the murder. However, they demanded Rs 50 lakh each for the job after learning about Siddiqui’s political stature.
When Lonkar failed to meet their financial demands, he reportedly hired a gang from Uttar Pradesh to carry out the assassination.
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