Shooter briefed masterminds after killing Baba Siddique | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: Shiv Kumar Gautam, who allegedly shot dead Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique in Bandra on October 12, briefed the prime conspirators in the case, Subham Lonkar and Zeeshan Akhtar, soon after he fled from Mumbai, the crime branch has found. On reaching Thane, Gautam also called Anurag Kashyap, younger brother of Dharmaraj Kashyap who had accompanied him to the crime spot, and requested him to make arrangements for his accommodation and food at their native place in Uttar Pradesh.

“After shooting Siddique, Shiv Kumar changed his shirt behind a tempo parked nearby and returned to the spot. Later, after getting to know that Siddique had been taken to Lilavati Hospital, he went there and found several Siddique supporters crying. Confirmed that the NCP leader had died, he left for Kurla station in an auto,” said an investigating officer.

Shiv Kumar then boarded a local train to Thane. From the railway station, he called Subham Lonkar on his mobile phone. He spoke to Lonkar and Zeeshan Akhtar, who was with the Lonkar, and briefed them about the entire episode, said police. They in turn instructed him to destroy the mobile phone and SIM cards he was using to ensure that the police would not be able to trace his location.

Shiv Kumar placed another call from the station to arrested accused Dharmaraj Kashyap’s younger brother Anurag Kashyap, asking him to make arrangements for his accommodation and food at their village in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh. He then left the station and dumped his mobile handset in a nullah, said police.

“We took him to the spot where he had dumped the phone after he was arrested, but were unable to find the phone,” said the police officer.

The crime branch has arrested 25 persons in connection with Siddique’s murder so far, though the motive is still unclear. Lonkar and Akhtar, who allegedly planned the murder, are also at large.

Police officers said Lonkar and Akhtar fled from Pune and Haryana respectively after recruiting the shooters in June and met in Delhi afterwards. Though their location was traced to the vicinity of the Jama Masjid in old Delhi, and help was sought from the police in six states including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, the crime branch has not been able to nab the duo.