Why shooters from UP and Haryana were hired to kill Baba Siddique

One of the accused arrested in the Baba Siddique murder case has revealed why shooters from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana were given the contract to kill the former Maharashtra minister. The accused is among the five arrested by Mumbai Police, which have claimed that they were initially meant to carry out the hit job on Baba Siddique.
Sources said the accused, who is from Maharashtra, told police during interrogation that he had demanded Rs 1 crore from conspirator Shubham Lonkar, a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Being from Maharashtra, the accused said he had a good idea of the stature and influence wielded by Siddique, who was close to several Bollywood stars like Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.
Keeping this in mind, he made the Rs 1 crore demand from Lonkar. The deal failed to materialise. However, the five arrested allegedly provided firearms and logistical support to Siddique’s killers.
Lonkar, who is absconding, knew that shooters from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana would not be aware of Baba Siddique’s image in Maharashtra and agreed to commit the murder for a lesser amount.
Hence, Lonkar eventually gave the contract to Gurmel Baljit Singh, a resident of Haryana, Dharmaraj Kashyap and Shivkumar Gautam — both from Uttar Pradesh.
The three-time MLA was shot dead outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddiqui’s office in Mumbai’s Bandra on Saturday evening. Apart from Shivkumar Gautam, the other shooters have been arrested.
The total number of arrests in the murder case now stands at nine, while three key persons are on the run.
During the investigation, a picture of Siddique’s MLA son was also recovered from the phone of one of the accused, indicating that he might have been on the hit list. The probe has also revealed that the handlers of the Bishnoi gang used Snapchat for communicating with the shooters.