The killing of former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique shocked the nation last month.

He was shot dead on October 12 by three assailants in Mumbai’s Bandra area.

The notorious one
the Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed the attack.

As the investigation continues, shocking new details emerge in this case.

Police said the main accused in the murder case, Shiv Kumar Gautam alias Shiva, revealed that he was standing outside Lilavati Hospital – where the politician was taken – after the fire to ascertain whether the latter had died or survived the attack.

The accused waited outside the hospital

Shiv, the shooter, told the police that soon after the fire, he and his two accomplices fled the scene.

He revealed that after quickly changing his shirt, he also kept the murder weapon in a bag, which he threw under a parked car.

He then stood outside Lilavati Hospital for 30 minutes amid the crowd to ascertain whether Siddique had died or survived the attack.

“He stood outside to check whether his ‘job’ was done correctly or not, listening to what the crowd was saying.” The Times of India a police official said.

Shiv left as soon as he learned that Siddique had died, according to the publication.

He also said that from the hospital he left in a car for Kurla railway station and from there he left for Thane and then Pune.

He waited for a few hours before taking a train to Uttar Pradesh.

He had destroyed his phone on the way and bought a new one in Lucknow, according to TOI.

According to the accused, he was supposed to meet his assistants – Dharmaraj Kashyap and Gurmail Singh – at Ujjain railway station, where a member of the Bishnoi gang was to take them to Vaishno Devi.

However, the plan failed as Kashyap and Singh were arrested by the police.

His arrest

Mumbai Crime Branch and Uttar Pradesh Police Special Force (STF) arrested Shiv along with Anurag Kashyap, Gyan Prakash Tripathi, Akash Srivastava and Akhilendra Pratap Singh near Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh.

The four assistants gave him shelter and helped the main accused flee the country, police said.

Four close friends had strange late-night chats on social media platforms, according to police, which were key in locating Shiv.

According to officials, the suspicious activities of Gautam’s four friends, including buying clothes of different sizes and arranging to meet him on bicycles in a lonely forest about 10 kilometers from Nanpara, triggered the probe.

Shiv was found hiding in a hamlet of 10 to 15 huts, about 10 kilometers from Uttar Pradesh’s Nanpara town.

The killing of Baba Siddique

On October 12, three men shot and killed Siddique outside the office of his son Zeeshan Siddique in Mumbai’s Neelamnagar district. Suffering two gunshot wounds to the chest, the NCP leader was rushed to Lilavati Hospital for emergency treatment.

The shooting, according to the Mumbai police, was the result
planning for months. Earlier, the accused had retreated right outside Siddique’s house and office for one and a half to two months and they were watching him.

Shiv revealed that the NCP leader was killed because of his “close links” with fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and Bollywood actor
Salman Khanwho was on their “hit list” in the 1998 poaching case.

When Shiv, a Class 7 dropout, finished his job, he was promised Rs 10 lakh, an overseas tour and monthly expenses. He has two older married sisters and two younger brothers, aged seven and 11.

He comes from the village of Gandara in Bahraich, where he had no criminal record. According to locals and the police, he had gone to Pune to work at a scrap yard. However, he only recently posted content flaunting his “gangster” status, police said, according to the report News 18.

He was also in direct contact with the gangster
Anmol Bishnoijailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother via social media, according to Indian Express.

Police have so far arrested 23 accused in the case.

According to information obtained, Shubham Lonkar, a wanted suspect, and two arrested persons, Gaurav Apune and Rupesh Mohol, went to a Jharkhand forest where they were
ENTRAINED how to use AK-47 weapons. The police are verifying this information.

With contributions from agencies