Siddique murder case: UP man nabbed for providing arms, money to shooters: Cops

The Mumbai police have arrested one more person in connection with the killing of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, claiming that he provided money and weapons for the crime.

Harishkumar Balakram Nisad (23), hailing from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, and the fourth person to be arrested in the case, was on Tuesday remanded in police custody till October 21.

Nisad worked as a scrap dealer in the Warje area of Pune, said a police official. A team of the Mumbai crime branch apprehended him from Bahraich on Monday.

The police had earlier arrested Haryana resident Gurmail Baljit Singh (23), Uttar Pradesh native Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19), both alleged shooters, and "co-conspirator" Pravin Lonkar from Pune. Another suspected shooter Shivkumar Gautam, who also hails from Bahraich, is on the run.

Nisad was produced before additional chief judicial magistrate VR Patil. He had provided money to the co-accused and a probe was necessary to find "the upper link and lower link" with regard to financial assistance and ascertain how he supplied weapons used in the crime, the police told the court. Nisad and Kashyap belong to the same village as the wanted accused Shivkumar Gautam.

Nisad's lawyer, Ajay Dubey, opposed the remand plea, saying that the accused was a "victim of circumstances and a scapegoat". But the magistrate noted that the offence was serious, and his custodial interrogation was necessary.

Nisad, along with Kashyap, Gautam, Pravin Lonkar and Pravin's brother Shubham, was part of the conspiracy to kill Siddique, police have said. Baba Siddique (66), a former Congress leader who had joined the Nationalist Congress Party earlier this year, was waylaid by three persons in Mumbai's Nirmal Nagar area, just outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique's office, and shot on Saturday night. The Mumbai crime branch has formed various teams to nab Shivkumar Gautam, accused Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar and other persons wanted in the case. It was probing various angles, including a possible contract killing, business or political rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project.

A prominent Muslim leader from Mumbai, Siddique was also known to be close to several Bollywood stars, including Salman Khan.