A day after veteran Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique was shot dead by three armed assailants, a social media post on Sunday by an alleged member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang took responsibility for the murder.
The post by one Shibu Lonkar claimed Siddique was killed because he was linked to Dawood Ibrahim, one of India’s most wanted terrorists, and was close to actor Salman Khan. The post also cited the death of Anuj Thapan, one of the arrested suspects in the shooting outside Khan's residence, in police custody as a reason for Siddique’s murder.
"We do not have any enmity with anyone but whoever helps Salman Khan and the Dawood gang, keep your accounts in order," the post said, in a grim warning.
Some Bishnoi gang members had been arrested in connection with the firing outside Salman Khan's residence in Mumbai in April.
Siddique is known to have close relations with many of the Bollywood actors and was reportedly instrumental in resolving a five-year-long hostility between Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.
Police suspect Siddique’s murder to be a pre-planned act and are probing the case from different angles—including a possible contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project, PTI reported.
Siddique was shot dead on Saturday night by three armed persons at Kher Nagar in Mumbai's Bandra area just outside his son's office. Two of the alleged shooters have been arrested and a manhunt is on to nab the third accused. A fourth accused, who alleged extended help to the gang to commit the crime, has also been nabbed.
Those arrested have been identified as Gurmail Baljit Singh, 23, from Haryana and Dharamraj Kashyap, 19, from Uttar Pradesh. The third accused, according to police, is Shiv Kumar Gautam from UP.
Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the police have found some “leads” in connection with the crime. Fadnavis, who is also in charge of state home department, however, refused to divulge the details, saying the investigators will talk about it later.