Baba Siddique's killers watched YouTube to learn shooting

Shooters involved in the killing of Nationalist Congress Party politician Baba Siddique learnt to handle firearms by watching videos on YouTube at a rented house in Kurla area of Mumbai, officials said on Wednesday.

IMAGE: Pravin Lonkar, an accused in connection the killing of NCP leader Baba Siddique, in police custody in Mumbai. Photograph: ANI Photo

Siddique (66) was shot dead on October 12 night outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique's office in Nirmal Nagar area, prima facie by three shooters.

Police have so far arrested four persons, including Haryana resident Gurmail Baljit Singh (23), Uttar Pradesh native Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19), both alleged shooters, Harishkumar Balakram Nisad (23), and "co-conspirator" Pravin Lonkar, who hails from Pune.

Nisad and Kashyap belong to the same village as the wanted accused Shivkumar Gautam.

The interrogation of the accused in custody disclosed that Gautam learnt to handle guns during the celebratory firings at weddings in Uttar Pradesh, a crime branch official said.

Gautam was hired as the "main shooter" as he knew how to operate guns, the official said citing the interrogation of Gurmail Singh and Dharmaraj Kashyap.

It was Gautam who trained Kashyap and Singh in handling firearms at a rented house in Kurla, where they performed "dry practice" (shooting without bullets) for want of open space, he said.

They learnt loading and unloading the weapon by watching YouTube videos for nearly four weeks, the official added.

Shockingly, one of the alleged co-conspirators, Shubham Lonkar, was questioned by the police in June in connection with firing outside actor Salman Khan's residence in Bandra, an incident allegedly linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang network.

Shubham is the brother of Pravin Lonkar and runs a dairy in Pune.

Shubham was arrested in January in an Arms Act case registered at Akot police station in Maharashtra's Akola district, leading to the recovery of more than ten firearms, an official said.

Shubham's interrogation revealed that he had been communicating with Lawrence Bishnoi's brother Anmol, he said.

The official said that after being released on bail, Shubham became untraceable on September 24 despite being on police radar.

The investigation also disclosed that the accused involved in Siddique shooting case used to communicate through social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram to stay under the police radar, he said.

The official further said that since Shubham knew how to use these mobile phone apps, he had asked others to communicate via Instagram and chat through Snapchat to dodge surveillance.

Snapchat has a feature which automatically deletes most messages after they've been viewed or expired, he said.

Sharing another update on the murder probe, the official said the bag, consisting of a pistol found a few meters away from the spot where Siddique was shot dead, belonged to runaway shooter, Gautam.

The pistol and the Aadhaar card found inside the bag belonged to Gautam.

Gautam had dumped the bag while fleeing the spot on Saturday night.

Crime branch officials on Tuesday visited the house in Kurla where the accused persons had stayed on rent.

Police had seized a bike used by the accused to conduct a recce of Siddique's office and residence and two helmets, the official added.