Baba Siddique murder: Shiv Kumar Gautam, the absconding Uttar Pradesh native who was part of a three-member gang that killed Mumbai politician Baba Siddique, had been flaunting his "gangster" status for several months on social media.
In a post on July 24 on Instagram, he wrote, "Yaar tera gangster hai jaani (your friend is a gangster)". The photo showed him on a motorcycle.
Shiv Kumar Gautam is a native of Bahraich's Gandara village. He has no criminal history. He had gone to Maharashtra to work at a scrap shop in Pune.
Also read: Baba Siddique news: Zeeshan Siddique was also on attackers' radar, says report
On July 8, PTI reported, he wrote: "Sharif baap hai # (expletives) hum nahin (My father is a law-abiding man, not me)".
On May 26, he posted a brief video of a city skyline along with background music from "KGF", a film about a mercenary, with its dialogue. “Powerful people make places powerful,” the post said.
Since the murder, the agency reported, Shiv Kumar Gautam's Instagram followers have doubled.
His father, Suman, couldn't believe that he had killed Baba Siddique. Suman told the media that her son had last visited her in Gandara during Holi. She had claimed that after the visit, Gautam left for Pune in the first week of April.
Baba Siddique, 66, was shot dead by three people outside his office. He was hit by three bullets. The police have arrested two alleged shooters. Gautam is currently absconding.
The Lawrence Bishnoi gang has claimed responsibility for the murder. According to a social media post, Siddique was killed because of his proximity to actor Salman Khan.
The police have also arrested a man named Pravin Lonkar in Pune. They said he is one of the conspirators. The police are also trying to find his brother, Shubham Lonkar, who allegedly wrote the post on social media.
A crime branch official on Sunday said Pravin and Shubham had enlisted two alleged shooters – Uttar Pradesh residents Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap and Gautam. The third shooter – Gurmail Baljit Singh – is from Haryana.
With inputs from PTI
Source Name : Hindustan Times