Baba Siddique murder: Four migrants from U.P’s Balrampur, Gonda also under scanner
Police have tracked the four migrants’ frequent phone conversations with two alleged assailants from Bahraich in the Baba Siddique murder case
Four migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh’s Balrampur and Gonda districts have also come under scanner for their suspected involvement in the sensational murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, who also had significant ties with Bollywood, in Mumbai on Saturday (October 12) night.
A senior police official privy to the investigation said these four young men from Balrampur and Gonda had also gone to earn a livelihood in Maharashtra. Their alleged involvement surfaced after the call detail records of two of the three alleged assailants, Dharam Raj Kashyap (21) and Shiv Kumar Gautam alias Shiva (22), both residents of Bahraich, revealed that the duo was in constant touch with the four migrant workers from Balrampur and Gonda in recent times, he added.
Bahraich, Balrampur and Gonda are the districts of the same region under the Devi Patan division of Uttar Pradesh. Several people from the region migrate to Maharashtra and other states for employment.
He said Kashyap was arrested from the spot along with a Haryana resident, while Gautam had escaped after the incident. Both were residents of Gandara village under Kaiserganj police station limits of Bahraich and they were childhood friends as well as neighbours.
The official confirmed that there is strong suspicion about involvement of the four suspects as they were found missing from their homes and not in touch with the family members for the past few weeks. He said the mobile phones of the four suspects were also switched off after the incident in Mumbai.
He said a Mumbai crime branch team had visited the Bahraich village on Sunday and took Kashyap’s younger brother along for further questioning. He said three other young men of the same village were also questioned as Shiva had sent ₹50,000 each to their bank accounts.
The official said the UP Special Task Force (STF) has been roped in to collect more details about the four suspects and the two assailants. He said one team of the STF will visit Mumbai to get more details about the case and brief senior officials.
Bahraich superintendent of police (SP) Vrinda Shukla had confirmed on Sunday that Dharam Raj Kashyap and Shiv Kumar Gautam alia Shiva are residents of Gandara village under Kaiserganj police station limits.
“The agencies investigating the NCP leader’s murder are in regular touch with the Bahraich police and we are lending our full support,” she said.
“So far, we have not found any criminal records of the two murder suspects, but the investigation agencies are further questioning their family members,” she added.
