Mumbai, Oct 25 (PTI) Mumbai Police on Friday arrested a person in connection with the killing of NCP leader Baba Siddique from Ludhiana in Punjab.

Sujit Sushil Singh (32), a resident of Mumbai’s Ghatkopar and the 15th person arrested in the high-profile case, was linked to the escape of accused Zeeshan Akhtar, one of the alleged masterminds of the crime, a police official said. crime section.

Elsewhere, investigators seized a pistol from the rented house of one of the arrested accused in Panvel area near Mumbai.

In the hierarchy of the conspirators, Sujit was above Nitin Sapre and Ram Kanoujia (both arrested), the official said, adding that Sujit and Akhtar received instructions from the top and passed them on to Sapre and Kanoujia.

Sujit, a resident of Chheda Nagar in Ghatkopar, had fled Mumbai a month before the murder on October 12 and was staying with his relatives in Ludhiana, the official said.

Crime branch officials also tracked his financial transactions with Kanoujia and Sapre, the official said. The money was given to the alleged shooters and others involved in the crime, he added.

The masterminds used different people to offer money to members of different “modules” of shooters hired to kill the NCP leader, the official said.

Former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique (66) was shot dead by three gunmen near the office of his MP son Zeeshan Siddique in Mumbai’s Bandra area on 12 October.

Meanwhile, a pistol and three bullets were recovered from Ram Kanoujia’s rented house in Palaspe area of ​​Panvel town in neighboring Raigad district, the crime department official said.

Kanoujia (43), arrested last week, was part of the group that allegedly provided firearms and logistical support to the shooters.

A court here on Friday extended the remand of nine accused persons until October 26.

While the police asked for the remand to be extended by three days, the court extended it by one day.

The nine accused produced before the court were Gurnail Baljit Singh (23), Dharmaraj Kashyap (21), Harish Kumar Nisad (26), Pravin Lonkar (30), Nitin Gautam Sapre (32), Sambhaji Kisan Pardhi (44), Pradeep Dattu Thombre (37), Chetan Dilip Pardhi and Ram Fulchand Kanoujia (43).

According to police, Haryana resident Gurnail Singh and Uttar Pradesh native Kashyap along with wanted accused Shivkumar Gautam shot Siddique.

Shubham Lonkar and Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar are also wanted in the case. Shubham, who has links with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, allegedly hatched the conspiracy for the murder with the other wanted accused.

(This report was published as part of the auto-generated syndicate feed. Apart from the headline, no copy editing was done by ABP Live.)