Getty ImagesBaba Siddique was an influential politician who was part of the coalition that ruled the state of Maharashtra
The murder of a politician in the downtown area of Mumbai, India, shocked the entire country.
Baba Ziauddin Siddique, 66, was shot near his car on Saturday night as he was leaving his son’s office. He later died at the hospital.
The killing of Siddique, an influential politician who was part of the coalition that governs the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, has sparked a political blame game.
The motive for the murder is still unclear, but for many it brought back memories of the 1990s, when politicians and film stars were frequently targeted by Mumbai’s underworld.
Police say three people have been arrested so far and the investigation is continuing. According to local media reports, the arrested men are members of a notorious gang whose leader is currently in prison.
Who is Baba Siddique?
Siddique was born in the eastern state of Bihar and moved to Mumbai with his father, a watchmaker, when he was five years old.
He started his political career in the 1980s as a student leader of the Nationalist Congress party and soon headed the youth wing of Mumbai. He then became a politician in local parliaments, then was elected to the state parliament three times in a row, and served as a minister for about four years in 2004.
In February, he left the Congress and joined the Congress party, which currently rules the state, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena.
Apart from his political activities, Siddique also made headlines for his lavish iftar parties attended by top Bollywood stars during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
It was at an iftar party in 2013 that superstars Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan ended their high-profile feud with a hug — which led to the city’s “It has made it a notable event on the social calendar,” Mid-Day wrote in 2016. .
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Bollywood superstars Salman Khan (left) and Shah Rukh Khan (right) reportedly ended their feud at Siddique’s iftar party in 2013.
How was Siddiq killed?
The politician was shot outside his son’s office as he tried to get into a car in the busy Bandra area.
Police said three gunmen fired six to seven shots, hitting Siddique in the abdomen and chest, before fleeing the scene. A bystander was also injured when a stray bullet hit him in the leg.
Investigators said they recovered two handguns and 28 live rounds from the arrested men.
Three police officers were guarding Siddique, and local media reported that security had been beefed up several days ago, but the suspects set off “smoke firecrackers” to distract the guards. It has been reported.
What is the status of the investigation?
Police were allowed to detain the arrested men for a week. They say they are looking for an accomplice.
“We have set up 15 teams and are investigating to identify those who provided logistical support to the gunmen,” said senior police official Datta Nalawade.
Although police have not confirmed this, reports citing sources say the arrested men are associated with a notorious Bishnoi gang. The gang’s leader, Lawrence Bishnoi, is an accused in several cases and is currently in a high-security prison in Gujarat.
Within hours of the shooting, a man claiming to be a gang member posted on Facebook that they were behind Siddiq’s murder. Police have not yet confirmed the authenticity of the post.
Bishnoi has been in jail since 2015 and is frequently in the news. Many social media accounts claiming to belong to him or his associates frequently post selfies of him from prison. In 2022, he gave an interview to a TV station, which led to an investigation.
Much of the reporting about Bishnoi is based on police information, and it is unclear how he is conducting gang activities while in prison.
The gang’s name surfaced in connection with the 2022 murder of Punjabi rapper Sidhu Mooswara.
In April, police arrested two gang members for allegedly firing shots outside actor Salman Khan’s apartment in Mumbai.
On Monday, Canadian police also said they believe the Bishnoi group has ties to Indian government officials who are using the group to target Sikh separatists in the country. India has not formally responded to the police allegations.
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Lawrence Bishnoi (second from left) has been in prison since 2015 and is frequently in the news.
What else happened?
Siddique’s murder is the first major assassination of a political figure in Mumbai since the 1990s, when the murders of politicians, businessmen and high-profile Bollywood celebrities by Mumbai’s criminal underworld were common.
Local media reported that security had been stepped up after he received death threats two weeks ago.
Within days, his killing put the state government at a disadvantage, and assembly elections are scheduled to be held soon in Maharashtra.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge termed the murder a “complete failure of law and order in Maharashtra”, while former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the incident affected not only the people of Maharashtra. He said he had terrorized “the entire country.”
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde defended the government.
“There will be no tolerance for whoever (the culprits) be it Bishnoi gangs or underworld gangs. The people who are being threatened, their safety is the responsibility of the state government and the government will fulfill its responsibility. Deaf,” he said.
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