LIVE | Baba Siddique murder: Contract killing, business rivalry angles being probed
The shocking incident has prompted the Opposition to question the law-and-order situation in the state where assembly elections are due next month
Mumbai Police are investigating the murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique from different angles, including a possible contract killing, business rivalry, or threat over a slum rehabilitation project, officials in the know have told news agency PTI.
The murder of the NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader, who represented Bandra (West) seat three times in the Assembly, is suspected to be a pre-planned act, a police official told PTI.
Siddique quit the Congress to join Ajit Pawar’s NCP in February this year. He had Y-category security cover.
Waylaid and shot
Siddique (66), a popular figure in Bollywood circles, was waylaid by three men at Kher Nagar in Mumbai’s Bandra just outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office and shot at on Saturday (October 12) night.
He was taken to Lilavati Hospital where he was declared dead.
Police have arrested two of the alleged assailants, identified as Haryana residence Gurmail Baljit Singh (23) and Uttar Pradesh native Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19), while another accused, Shiva, is on the run and efforts are on to trace him, officials say.
The accused have been booked under relevant Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections, including for murder, as well as provisions of the Arms Act and the Maharashtra Police Act, they said.
May have been taken to hospital dead
Siddique was shifted to the Lilavati Hospital’s emergency medical services at 9.30 pm on Saturday in an unresponsive condition with no pulse, no cardiac activity, no blood pressure, and with a history of gunshot wounds on the chest, officials from the medical facility said.
He had lost a lot of blood and resuscitation was initiated immediately. He was shifted to the ICU where further attempts for revival were made. Despite all resuscitative efforts, doctors were unable to revive him and he was declared dead at 11.27 pm on Saturday, they said.
A doctor told PTI that Siddique had probably died before being shifted there.
Forensic samples collected
The NCP leader’s body was shifted from Lilavati Hospital in Bandra to Cooper Hospital in Vile Parle area around 6 am on Sunday for post-mortem, an official said.
After the incident, a forensic team visited the crime spot and collected samples and police were checking CCTV footage of the nearby spots to get more information about the attack, a police official said.
A team from the Delhi Police’s Special Cell is also set to be dispatched to Mumbai to assist in the investigation of Siddique’s murder, police sources told PTI.
Pistol found
The shooters reportedly opened four to five rounds of fire from a 9.9 mm pistol which was recovered by police.
During the probe, police found the assailants fired at Siddique when people started bursting firecrackers during a Durga visarjan procession, a police official said.
They got advantage as most of the people did not hear the gunshots sound, the police said.
Opposition attacks government
The shocking incident has prompted the opposition to question the law-and-order situation in the state, where the assembly elections are expected to be held next month.
His assassination is the first high-profile political murder in Mumbai in past three decades.
The opposition NCP(SP) said Siddique’s murder was shocking and shameful for the state. If a leader from the ruling alliance is not safe, how can the government keep the common man safe, NCP(SP) state president Jayant Patil asked.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in a post on X said Siddique’s demise was shocking beyond words. “Justice must be ensured, and the present Maharashtra government must order a thorough and transparent investigation. The culprits must be brought to book at the earliest,” he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said if a protected person meets such fate, how will be common people feel safe?
Fear of gang war?
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar described the attack as extremely unfortunate and condemnable.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the incident was deeply regrettable.
“We have directed the police to ensure no one takes law into their hands under any circumstances. We cannot allow any form of gang war to resurface in our city,” he said.
Iftar parties, COVID medicines
During the COVID-19 pandemic peak, Baba Siddique had arranged highly sought-after medicines for needy patients.
He was also known for his grand Iftar parties which were attended by top Bollywood stars.
A prominent Muslim leader from Mumbai, he was also known be close to several Bollywood stars, including Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Sanjay Dutt.
Follow this space for more live inputs
Live Updates
- 13 Oct 2024 2:43 PM IST
Bridge between warring Khans: Siddique and the Bollywood connection
He played peacemaker between one-time warring superstars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan at what was one of the most viral moments of 2013 before the social media rage kicked in. He was also a protege, even a second son, to cinema veteran Sunil Dutt.
NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, who was shot dead on Saturday night, epitomised the symbiotic relationship between politics and the Hindi film industry.
His grand iftar parties were a starry affair attended right from the Khans to filmmaker Kabir Khan, celebrity designer Manish Malhotra, and actors Urmila Matondkar, Katrina Kaif, Huma Qureshi, Sonu Sood, Sushant Singh Rajput, Ankita Lokhande, Kiara Advani, R Madhavan, and Aditi Rao Hydari.
Dutt’s daughter and Congress leader Priya Dutt said she was “shocked” by Siddique’s death.
“Baba was more than a political associate; he was family. To my father, Baba Siddique was like a son, and to me, he was a brother and a dear friend,” she wrote in an X post.
Siddique was brought into politics by Dutt, the late Congress MP who represented Mumbai North West for five consecutive terms.
Siddique joined the Indian National Congress (INC) as a teenager back in 1977. Even when he became a part of the Ajit Pawar-led National Congress Party (NCP) in February, he acknowledged the role of Dutt in his political career.
Priya Dutt said Siddique stood “steadfast” by her father throughout his political journey and beyond.
“When I entered politics, he guided me through its ups and downs, offering his unwavering support. His loss feels like the departure of a family member. My heart bleeds for Bhabhi, Zeeshan, and Arshia. May God grant them the resilience to bear this immense sorrow. May his soul rest in eternal peace. Farewell, dear brother. #BabaSiddiqui,” she wrote on the microblogging site.
It was his connection to Dutt that helped Siddique secure an MLA ticket in 1999 from Bandra West, a seat he retained for three back-to-back terms. Not only politics, former actor Dutt also introduced the political leader to the world of Bollywood.
After the news of Siddique’s death broke, Dutt’s son, actor Sanjay Dutt was one of the first celebrities to visit the late politician at the Lilavati Hospital where he was declared dead on Saturday night.
Salman and Shilpa Shetty, along with her businessman-husband Raj Kundra, were also photographed reaching the hospital to meet Siddique’s family.
It was at Siddique’s 2013 iftar party, hosted at a five-star hotel in Mumbai, that Salman and Shah Rukh buried the hatchet.
The two Khans were on unfriendly terms since their spat at Katrina’s birthday party in 2008. The feud was so bitter that they avoided each other not only at private parties but also at public events.
There are several videos on the Internet capturing one of the highlights for the fans of the duo hugging it out back in 2013.
The iftar was on when Salman patted Shah Rukh on his shoulder, who was sitting next to his screenwriter-father Salim Khan, to embrace his Karan Arjun co-star, thus ending their infamous rivalry.
A year later, Salman also endorsed Congress’s Siddique when he spent an afternoon in Ahmedabad with the then BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on the kite-flying festival of Uttarayan.
“In our constituency Bandra, where it’s my responsibility to cast a vote, the best people there are Baba Siddiqui and Priya Dutt. You have to give Modi sahab the vote, I have to give my people the vote,” the superstar said.
Matondkar, a Shiv Sena member, said she was “extremely saddened” to learn about Siddique’s death.
“May God grant strength to @zeeshan_iyc and his family in this tragic time. Prayers for the soul departed,” the former Congress leader said.
“My heart goes out to @zeeshan_iyc and the entire family- May god give them strength to brave this difficult time. The perpetrators of this horrific crime must be brought to justice,” actor Riteish Deshmukh wrote on X.
- 13 Oct 2024 2:37 PM IST
Not only Maharashtra, entire country scared: Kejriwal
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal tweets: "People of not only Maharashtra but the entire country are scared of the incident of NCP leader being shot dead in public in Mumbai. They have created more or less the same atmosphere in Delhi as well. These people want to bring gangster rule in the entire country. The public will now have to stand against them."
