13 October,2024 09:34 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Police officials at the crime scene. Pic/Ashish Raje
Mumbai Police on Sunday morning shifted former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique's body to Mumbai's RN Cooper Hospital for post-mortem, an official said. On October 12, Baba Siddique was shot dead by three assailants outside his son, MLA Zeeshan Siddique's office in Bandra. He was shot in the chest and later taken to Lilavati Hospital where he was declared dead.
A team of forensic surgeons attached to the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Medical College, also known as HBT Medical College, along with a post-mortem surgeon of Cooper postmortem centre will conduct an autopsy on Baba Siddique's body.
Unlike the routine practice of sending fire-arm death cases to state government-run Sir JJ Hospital, the police decided to send the body to Cooper. Highly placed sources attached to the centre confirmed to midday of arrival of the body at 6.10 am at the centre from Lilavati Hospital where Siddique was rushed soon after the incident at 9.30 pm.
A team of forensic surgeons are already at the post-mortem centre and are having a meeting to decide on the autopsy plan.
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The autopsy will begin only after an x-ray of the body is taken, to ascertain, the exact location of the bullet that remains in the body, which can be extracted and can be sent for ballistic findings to match the empty cartridge found at the crime scene and match with the firearms used in executing the crime.
Before killing Baba Siddique at point-blank range, the killers had thrown a smoke bomb around him to limit the visibility in the surrounding area, said another insider of the Siddique family.
The insider said that exploiting the cover, the killers inched closer to their target and pumped bullets into his chest and leg. One of the party workers also got injured by one misdirected bullet fired by one of the three accused. The injured man was admitted to VN Desai Hospital, the insider added.
Baba Siddique's funeral will be held today, stated the family in their media statement. His funeral will be held on Sunday, October 13 at 7 pm following the Maghrib Namaz at his residence in Bandra. The burial is scheduled for 8:30 pm at Bada Kabarastan, opposite Marine Lines station, the statement said.
Officials have confirmed that they found a total of six cartridges at the scene. Two bullets hit Siddique in the chest and one struck a worker in the leg; two missed their target and another hit Siddique's car.
The shooting occurred between 9 and 9.15 pm following which Siddique was rushed to Lilavati Hospital where doctors declared him dead at 11.35 pm.
Highly placed sources told mid-day that the two accused, arrested for shooting Baba Siddique, are contract killers who were paid to eliminate the senior politician, likely due to his close connection with actor Salman Khan.
