Baba Siddique murder: Bishnoi gang made ten unsuccessful attempts, gunmen learned shooting for YouTube videos

The Mumbai Police, which is continuing its probe into the murder of former MLA Baba Siddique, has revealed that the gunmen associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang had made several unsuccessful attempts to fire at the NCP leader. The 66-year-old Siddique was waylaid and shot by three persons on Saturday night in Mumbai's Nirmal Nagar area, just outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique's office.

CREDIT: REUTERS

Planned three months ago

According to the Mumbai Police, the plan to kill him was hatched in Pune, some three months ago, and the gunmen had carried out a recce of Siddique and made at least ten attempts on his life before Saturday.

"They did not get a chance to open fire on him on those occasions because of various reasons. At times, Siddique didn¡¯t turn up, and when he did, they were forced to abandon the plan because he was surrounded by too many of his supporters," a senior police officer told The Times of India.

CREDIT: BCCL

Four accused arrested

A total of four people, including the two gunmen who fired at Siddique, have been arrested by the Mumbai Police, while at least three more who are directly linked to the murder, including the third gunman, are on the run.

According to the police, the two arrested gunmen, 23-year-old Gurmail Baljit Singh from Haryana and 19-year-old Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh, along with the third gunman, Shivkumar Gautam, who hails from Bahraich, were hired by Harishkumar Balakram Nisad.

CREDIT: BCCL

Learned to shoot watching videos

Kashyap and Gautam used to work for Nisad, who hails from Bahraich and ran a scrap business in Pune.

According to the police, Nisad provided the three gunmen with photos of Siddique, and they learned to shoot by watching YouTube videos.

¡°The accused were given Baba Siddique's photo to identify him. The shooters had surveyed his residence and office 25 days before the incident. Gurmail Singh and Dharamraj Kashyap learned shooting from YouTube and practised shooting without a magazine in Mumbai,¡± a Mumbai Police official told ANI.

CREDIT: AP

The other arrested accused is Praveen Lonkar, the brother of Shubham Lonkar, from whose social media account the Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for Siddique's murder.

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