Baba Siddique murder: Cops seek father’s help to track accused from Bahraich

Police and security agencies has sought help from the father of UP’s Bahraich resident Shiv Kumar Gautam alias Shiva (22), who is wanted in the murder of former Maharashtra minister and three-time MLA from Bandra west constituency Baba Ziauddin Siddique in Mumbai on October 12, after failing to arrest him even after a marathon search for around one week, said police officials on Friday.

A local police official confirmed that the investigation agencies have asked Shiva’s father Bal Kishun Gautam to help in tracing his son and advised him to make him surrender by October 22 if he could approach him or the accused himself approaches the family.

He said two Bahraich residents, Dharam Raj Kashyap and his uncle Harish Kashyap had already been arrested in the matter. He said Dharam Raj was arrested on the spot when he along with Shiva and one other assailant from Haryana opened fire on Baba Siddique on Dusshera night in Mumbai on October 12.

He said two assailants were arrested on the spot while Shiva managed to escape allegedly after executing the crime. He has been at large since then and the Mumbai police are desperately trying to track him and visited several locations including Bahraich in the past one week, he emphasized.

He said the Mumbai police as well as other security agencies had already questioned Bal Kishun for multiple hours to ascertain any possible link with the crime. He said Shiva’s younger brother who is 17, was also questioned for several hours on Thursday when he returned to his house in Gandara village under Qaiserganj police station limits from Delhi.

The official said Shiva’s younger brother informed that he had lost his job at a juice corner in Delhi after its owner came to know that his elder brother is involved in the Mumbai murder. He said Shiva’s brother told the owner was concerned that he too would be questioned and troubled by the security agencies.

Notably, four other migrant workers from UP’s Balrampur and Gonda are also under scanner for their suspected involvement in the sensational murder of Baba Ziauddin Siddique, who also had significant ties with several Bollywood stars including Salman Khan.

A senior police official privy to the investigation said these four young men from Balrampur and Gonda had gone to work and earn livelihood in Maharashtra. The two alleged assailants Dharam Raj and Shiva had also migrated to Pune to work at a scrap shop to earn a livelihood. The involvement of four other migrants has surfaced after call detail reports of Dharam Raj and Shiva revealed that the duo was in constant touch with the four men in the recent times, he added.

Bahraich, Balrampur and Gonda are the districts of the same region under Devi Patan range and several people from there migrate to Maharashtra and other states for employment.