The Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Sunday arrested Pravin Lonkar, another accused in the murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, India Today reported.
Siddique, 66, a member of the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, was shot dead allegedly by three men in the city’s Bandra East area on Saturday evening.
Pravin Lonkar was arrested in Pune. He is the brother of Shubham Lonkar, an alleged member of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s group. Shubham Lonkar had claimed in a social media post that the Bishnoi gang was responsible for Siddique’s murder.
Three accused in the case have been arrested so far. The Crime Branch has identified six suspects.
While Pravin Lonkar, Gurmail Singh and another accused who claims to be a minor have been arrested, three other suspects – Shubham Lonkar, Shiv Kumar Gautam and Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar – are absconding.
Gautam and the accused claiming to be a minor, who are two of the three alleged assailants, were employed at a scrap shop in Pune, located next to Pravin Lonkar’s dairy shop, India Today quoted unidentified police officials as saying. Pravin Lonkar and Shubham Lonkar hired Gautam and the other accused to execute the murder of Siddique, the police said.
On Sunday, Shubham Lonkar claimed in a post on Facebook that Siddique was killed due to his close ties to Bollywood star Salman Khan and alleged connections with members of the underworld, including Dawood Ibrahim.
Shubham Lonkar is a known associate of Bishnoi, NDTV reported on Sunday.
Bishnoi, who is lodged at Sabarmati Central Jail, has frequently made news for his threats to Khan. The actor attracted the gangster’s attention after allegedly killing a blackbuck during the shooting of a film in Rajasthan in 1998. The animal is sacred to the Bishnoi community.
The social media post warned that anyone aiding Khan or Ibrahim should expect retaliation.
The killing took place on a day when the Mumbai Police was on high alert on account of the annual Dussehra rallies that were held by the rival factions of the Shiv Sena. Opposition leaders criticised the state government for failing to ensure law and order and urged it to take responsibility for the killing.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde described the killing as extremely unfortunate and said he had directed the police to ensure that no one takes law and order into their own hands. “A gang war-like situation must not be allowed to rear its head,” he said.