look news india
Mumbai: Praveen Lonkar, the third accused arrested from Pune on Sunday for the murder of NCP leader and former state minister Baba Siddiqui, has been given police custody till October 21.
Accused Magistrate V.R. Patil was presented in the court. The demand for custody was made because he was to be interrogated to unearth the conspiracy behind the sensational murder. Police said that Anusap Praveen Lonkar's brother Shubham has alleged links with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
According to the police claim, Shubham and other absconding accused provided weapons to the gunmen and conspired to attack Siddiqui.
Praveen Lonkar Sampani is accused of assigning work to two alleged shooters. However, his lawyer denied the allegations and claimed that his client was framed as the police could not catch Shubham. Praveen runs a dairy shop and despite the matter being sensitive, Praveen cannot be accused of conspiracy. After hearing both the sides, the magistrate sent Praveen on remand till October 21.
Gurmail Baljeet Singh (23) of Haryana and Dharamraj Rajesh Kashyap (19) of Uttar Pradesh, who were arrested on the same day in the case, have been given police custody till Monday. Dharamraj has claimed that he is a minor. But late last night the court got him medically examined and after he was found to be an adult, he was also taken on remand.
Baba Siddiqui was shot dead by three people near Kherwadi Junction in Bandra. The incident occurred on Saturday night when Siddiqui was coming out of the office of his MLA son Zeeshan Siddiqui.
The crime branch has so far caught two shooters and the third gunman Shivkumar Gautam is still absconding. According to the police, Praveen and Shubham chose Kashyap and Gautam for the shooting work.
Police are also verifying a social media post made by an alleged Bishnoi gang member claiming responsibility for the incident.
The crime branch is investigating cases of contract killings, professional enmity or threats to SRA projects.
