NCP leader Baba Siddique shot dead; two suspects arrested

Mumbai: Former minister in the Maharashtra cabinet and three-term MLA from Bandra (West), Baba Ziauddin Siddique, 65, was shot dead in Mumbai on Saturday night. Follow LIVE updates here.

Siddique, whose son Zeeshan is the Congress MLA from Bandra (East), was waylaid by three men at Kher Nagar just outside his son’s office around 9.30 pm and shot at. He was taken to Lilavati Hospital, where he was declared dead.

The police have recovered six empty bullet shells from the spot of the incident, but it wasn’t immediately clear as to how many bullets were fired and how many hit the victim.

According to the police, two persons from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have been arrested, while the third accused is absconding. According to the police, Siddique had received a threat to his life 15 days ago, after which his security was beefed up to the Y category.

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Siddique’s killing, reminiscent of the gangland killings of the 1990s, has left Mumbai’s political and film circles stunned. Siddique was brought into the Congress by former MP Sunil Dutt, and he, in turn, mentored Dutt’s daughter Priya Dutt’s career. In February this year, he shifted allegiance to Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, and his son Zeeshan was on the brink of joining his father there.

As much as his wide-ranging political connections that ran across party lines, Siddique was known for his close ties with the powerful stars of the Hindi film industry, in particular Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. He was also an influential figure in Mumbai’s over-heated realty business. In recent months, he and his son had opposed the redevelopment of wide swathes of slum land in Bharat Nagar and Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar in Bandra East that lies cheek by jowl with the Bandra-Kurla Complex, among the most expensive parcels of real estate in the country.

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Late on Saturday night, police confirmed to HT that they were also exploring a possible Lawrence Bishnoi angle to the killing. Actor Salman Khan, who has close ties with Siddique, has been under alleged threats from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Earlier this year, the Mumbai police had arrested six members of the Bishnoi gang for firing at Khan’s home in Bandra in April; one of the arrested men later died by alleged suicide in police custody, a contention the deceased’s family has challenged in court. Siddique’s killing will now be investigated by a former encounter specialist, senior inspector Daya Nayak of the Mumbai Crime Branch. Nayak is also investigating the shootout at Salman Khan’s house.

This is the second murder of an NCP leader from Mumbai. Last Saturday, the Byculla division leader of the party, Sachin Kurmi, 46, was stabbed at least 20 times by unidentified men when he stepped out for a post-dinner walk in Byculla.