Mumbai: Police on Tuesday said the fourth accused arrested for the murder of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique had provided financial help and firearms for the operation. A court here on Tuesday remanded the fourth accused, Harishkumar Nisad (23), in police custody till October 21. Nisad was apprehended from Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, earlier in the day.
The police had earlier identified the fourth accused as Harishkumar Balakram. The additional chief judicial magistrate (Esplanade Court) V R Patil, while sending the accused to police custody, noted that the "offence is serious in nature" and his presence with the probe agency "is essential for custodial interrogation".
The crime branch informed the court that Nisad had provided money to the others involved in the crime, and a probe was necessary to find "the upper link and lower link" with regard to financial assistance. It further stated that information about bank accounts and other modes of transactions Nisad used for financial assistance to the other accused needs to be gathered from him.
The police said they also have to ascertain how he supplied weapons used in the crime to the other arrested accused. 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. They have been remanded in police custody till October 21.
During the remand hearing, the police told the court that Nisad and Kashyap belonged to the same village as the wanted accused, Shivkumar Gautam. Moreover, Nisad ran a scrap shop in Pune, where the wanted accused used to reside, and further investigation is necessary to gather information about Gautam's whereabouts, police said.
According to the police, the accused conspired and carried out the crime after conducting a recce of the victim's residence and the crime scene. Nisad's lawyer, Ajay Dubey, opposed the remand plea, saying that the accused was a "victim of the circumstances and a scapegoat". The court heard both sides and remanded the accused in police custody.
Siddique (66) was waylaid by three persons in Mumbai's Nirmal Nagar area, just outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique's office, and shot at on Saturday night. He was rushed to the Lilavati Hospital, where he was declared dead, according to police.
