Pune (Maharashtra) [India]: Mumbai Crime Branch police have arrested another suspect in connection with the murder of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, officials said on Wednesday.
According to officials, the suspect, identified as Gaurav Vilas Apune (32), was nabbed in Maharashtra’s Pune, taking the total number of arrests to 16 in the case.
During the investigation, officials found that Apune had met with other suspects to plan the assassination and was in contact with the group of shooters initially hired to kill Siddique.
Baba Siddique was shot dead by three assailants on October 12 near his son, MLA Zeeshan Siddique’s, office in Mumbai’s Nirmal Nagar.
The gang led by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi has claimed responsibility for the murder.
Earlier, the Mumbai Police, investigating Baba Siddique’s murder, said that the weapons used in the crime were sourced from Rajasthan.
The Mumbai Crime Branch has deployed five teams outside Maharashtra to locate additional suspects, and teams are actively searching in Haryana for Zeeshan, identified as the alleged mastermind behind the murder.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Crime Branch recovered another weapon used in Baba Siddique’s killing from the Pune residence of one of the suspects, Rupesh Mohol.
This was the fifth weapon recovered in the murder case.
According to the Crime Branch, they are still searching for one more weapon and three live cartridges. The Crime Branch officials believe that around six weapons were brought to Mumbai as part of the murder plot.
Earlier, a weapon was recovered from the Raigad residence of another suspect, Ram Fulchand Kanoujia, where he was living on rent.
Police had also said that, upon examining the shooters’ mobile phones, pictures of pistols were found.