Anmol Bishnoi wanted to kill Siddique for Dawood-1993 blasts link claims main shooter

Mumbai, Jan 27 (PTI) Gangster Anmol Bishnoi had ordered the hit on NCP leader Baba Siddique for his "association with Dawood Ibrahim and involvement in the 1993 Bombay blasts", alleged main shooter Shivkumar Gautam in his confessional statement to the police.
Gautam's confessional statement is part of the chargesheet filed in connection with the October 12 murder of the former Maharashtra minister. Siddique (66) was shot dead by three assailants outside his son Zeeshan Siddique's office in Mumbai's Bandra East area.
Gautam also claimed he had been instructed to kill Baba Siddique or Zeeshan Siddique and was promised Rs 15 lakh to carry out the crime.
He has told police he used to collect scrap in Pune and would sell the items to co-accused Harish Kumar Kashyap.
Kashyap, who used to run a scrap shop, had made arrangements for their stay and it was during this period that he became acquainted with Pravin Lonkar and his brother Shubham Lonkar, he told police.
"One day Shubham Lonkar told the shooter that he and his brother work for the Bishnoi gang. In June 2024, Shubham Lonkar (Shubbu) told me and Dharmaraj Kashyap (co-shooter) that if we did a job at his behest, we could be paid Rs 10 to 15 lakh. When I asked about the work, Shubham told us we were to kill a man named Baba Siddiqui or his son Zesshan Siddiqui. But he didn't give any further details," Gautam said in the statement.
"After a few days, Shubham Lonkar reminded us about the murder work and asked us if we were scared. Then I and Dharmaraj Kashyap told him we would do the work and asked for the money," he added.
One day Shubham Lonkar made a video call to Anmol Bishnoi through Snapchat app on his mobile phone.
Bishnoi told us the person we have to kill is "associated with Dawood Ibrahim and is involved in the Bombay bomb blasts", Gautam claimed.
"He motivated us with these words and mentioned that Shubhan Lonkar will arrange the money if they need any. The conversation convinced us that both the Lonkar brothers work for the Bishnoi gang. As per the instructions of Shubham, I downloaded the Snapchat app on my mobile and used to talk to Anmol Bishnoi directly," the alleged shooter said.
Gautam's statement claimed Shubhman Lonkar had told him that after the murder someone from his gang will post a message on Facebook and take responsibility for it.
Days before the murder, Gautam and Kashyap came to know that Shubham Lonkar had sent another man - Gurmail Singh - from Amritsar to Mumbai to commit the murder, as per the confessional statement.
The shooter stated that Shubham Lonkar directed them to indulge in firing practice with the weapons supplied to them for the murder.
The three shooters practised shooting in the forests around Khopoli railway station and informed Anmol Bishnoi and Shubham Lonkar about it on Snapchat, he added.
As per Gautam's confessional statement, Baba Siddiqui and his son were identified from Google and the posters outside their office.
The address of the Siddiques was sent to them by Anmol Bishnoi and Shubham Lonkar during Snapchat conversations, Gautam claimed.
Besides Gautam, confessional statements of six others are part of over 4500 page chargesheet filed against 26 accused before a special MCOCA court. Shubham Lonkar, Yasin Akhthar and Anmol Bishnoi have been shown as wanted accused.
Meanwhile, Shooter Gurmail Singh in his confessional statement claimed his mental health deteriorated after the death of his mother in August 2022.
During this period, Zeeshan Akhtar, who he had met in prison and was a close contact of Anmol Bishnoi, had given him shelter, Singh told police.
Singh was offered Rs 50,000 as well as a passage out of the country in August 2024 for killing Siddique, as per the confessional statement.
Another accused in the case, Sujit Singh claimed he was inspired by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi (who is not an accused in the case) after watching a post of his on social media in 1998.
Around the same time he had seen videos of Lawrence Bishnoi threatening to kill a film actor, Singh said.
In 2020, he got acquainted with Shubham Lonkar through social media and the latter introduced him to Bishnoi, said Sujit Singh.
Singh had helped in providing financial assistance to the accused who had conducted recce before the murder.
All the accused have been booked under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and are currently in judicial custody.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)