Maharashtra ex-Minister Baba Siddique shot dead in Mumbai's Bandra

Sending shockwaves in political circles, Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s senior leader Baba Ziauddin Siddique was shot dead near Nirmal Nagar in Bandra East on Saturday.

As per available information, at least two-three persons, who were lying in wait for the former state minister, rushed and fired multiple rounds indiscriminately at him. The businessman-cum-politician sustained two-three rounds, including one in the chest, outside his office there.

An aide standing nearby also suffered a shot in the leg even as the assailants in the shoot-and-scoot incident disappeared from there, around 9.30 pm.

Initially, the crowd did not notice the development as fire crackers were being burst on the roads as part of Dussehra celebrations and crowds were returning from the two major political rallies this evening.

As some people realised that there was a shootout, his aides and others helped rush him to the Lilavati Hospital in Bandra West where he was declared dead.

As news of the shootout and Siddique’s demise spread like wildfire, top NCP, Congress and leaders of the MahaYuti, plus his Congress MLA son Zeeshan B. Siddique rushed to the hospital, besides his close friend and Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, among others.

According to a police officer, two persons were detained from Andheri East soon after the shootout and further investigations are under way by the Crime Branch.

Though the motives behind the killing of the influential and prominent minority community leader Siddique are not clear, it is tentatively suspected to be an outcome of some business rivalry.

A veteran Congress leader for decades and a close associate of the former Union Minister Sunil Dutt and his daughter Priya Dutt, Siddique had quit the party to throw his lot with Ajit Pawar’s NCP in February, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

For the past few months, even his son Zeeshan has been sitting on the fence and is expected to make his political preferences clear soon, ahead of the upcoming state Assembly elections.

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders have slammed the MahaYuti regime for the sensational killing of Siddique and demanded the resignation of the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis.