Baba Siddique murder: Absconding shooter, four others arrested from UP by Mumbai Police

The accused in police custody. Pic/ Mumbai Police sources

In a major breakthrough in the Baba Siddique murder case, Mumbai Police has arrested the absconding shooter along with four other suspects from Uttar Pradesh, said an official on Sunday.

Baba Siddiqui case shooter Shivkumar Gautam was arrested by Mumbai Crime Branch in a well coordinated joint operation with the UP STF, sources said.

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Gautam was apprehended in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh, official sources said.

Apart from Gautam, four other suspects--identified as Anurag Kashyap, Gyan Prakash Tripathi, Akhilesh Srivastava, and Akhilendra Pratap Singh - were also arrested for allegedly helping Gautam while he was absconding.

With these arrests a total number of individuals apprehended in connection with the case has now reached to 23.

An official said that the Mumbai Crime Branch, in collaboration with the UP Special Task Force (STF), arrested Shivkumar Gautam, the shooter who had been absconding for about a month since the incident took place.

Mumbai Police said, a team of police officials, comprising API Amol Mali (Unit 5), PSI Swapnil Kale (Unit 7), Police Constable (PC) Vikas Chavan (Unit 3), and PC Mahesh Sawant (Unit 7), had been tracking and searching for the accused for the past 25 days. After confirming the whereabouts of the accused, a joint operation with the STF, UP, was conducted, involving a total of 21 police officers and personnel of Mumbai Crime Branch. The operation took place in Bahraich District, Uttar Pradesh.

"A team of 26 officers from the Mumbai Crime Branch, led by API Amol Mali, was instrumental in tracking and capturing Gautam. The arrest marks a significant breakthrough in the case," said an official.

Gautam was about to flee to Nepal, says UP STF

The UP STF in a press statement on Sunday said that Gautam was planning to flee to Nepal but was nabbed just in time in a joint operation with Mumbai Crime Branch.

It said that Gautam told the police that he was in touch with Shubham Lonkar who had made him talk to Lawrence Bishnoi's brother Anmol Bishnoi.

He told the police that after shooting Baba Siddique he fled away from the spot and reached Pune and on the way he dumped his mobile phone. He then went to Jhansi and later moved to Lucknow. From Lucknow he moved to Bharaich and while on the run, he told the police, he used to borrow phone from random people to contact his handlers-- Subham and Jishan.

The UP STF said that the accused were handed over to the Mumbai Crime Branch who will be further interrogating them.