Shooters who fired rounds at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique sourced firearms from Rajasthan and stayed in a room in Patel Chawl of Kurla area in Mumbai. It was also revealed that the accused had practiced firing shots in September.
The accused had searched for the room they stayed in on the internet and had finalised the same via a broker, who was identified as Abbas Sheikh.
During interrogations, it was also revealed that two of the accused – Ram Kanoujia and Bhagwat Singh Om Singh, had travelled to Udaipur in July this year to collect two of the three pistols, both foreign-made.
The duo had taken the delivery of the weapons from a man whose clothes matched the description provided to them before their meeting.
The Mumbai Police, with the help of their Rajasthan counterparts, were now searching for the man who provided them the firearms, the official said.
The Mumbai cops were also trying to find out how the weapons landed in Rajasthan as they were of foreign origin, he said.
Siddique was fatally shot by three gunmen on October 12 in Mumbai’s Bandra area, near the office of his MLA-son Zeeshan.
The police have so far arrested 10 people, including two alleged shooters Gurmail Singh, a Haryana native, and Dharmaraj Kashyap, a Uttar Pradesh resident and have recorded the statements of 20 people in connection with the case.
The third shooter, Shivkumar Gautam, is on the run along with some other persons who were involved in the murder conspiracy.
SHOOTERS PRACTICED 30 ROUNDS FIRING
Shooters Shivkumar Gautam, Dharmaraj and Gurmail collectively practiced 30 rounds of firing at Palasdari village in Maharashtra, near Karjat, in September, the month before Baba Siddique was killed. Upon their arrest, Dharmaraj and Gurmail were taken to the spot for investigations, where officials found several crucial evidence.
The probe revealed that the three accused boarded a train from Kural to reach Karjat. Upon reaching there, they boarded an auto and reached the waterfall area, which they found secluded and deserted.
Here, the shooters practiced rounds of firing and returned to their rented apartment in Kurla.
Before this, in August, the shooters had stayed a night in Karjat, where they practiced firing in a different village.
ACCUSED HAD COLLECTED BABA SIDDIQUE’s PHOTOS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA
During the investigation, it was also revealed that the accused persons had collected the photos of Baba Siddique from social media platforms, including Instagram.
The probe team is treading cautiously as the arrested accused are providing misleading information during their interrogation, he said.
Meanwhile, the crime branch teams have intensified their search for the absconding accused, who was the main shooter, according to the official.
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