Mumbai:

The three gunmen involved in the killing of NCP leader Baba Siddique in Mumbai practiced firing near a waterfall in adjoining Raigad district before executing the murder, police officials said on Tuesday citing their investigation.

The city police’s crime branch, investigating the October 12 murder, said interrogation of the arrested accused persons has revealed that shooters Dharmaraj Kashyap, Gurmail Singh, both arrested, and Shivkumar Gautam, who is on the run, practiced firing near a waterfall in Palasdhari under Karjat tehsil, on Mumbai’s outskirts, in September, an official said.

The shooters had found a secluded place near the waterfall, where they practiced firing for a day, he said.

A five-member Thane-based contract killing module led by Nitin Sapre and Ram Kanoujia initially got the deal to kill the former Maharashtra minister (66). Pistols used in the crime were brought by Kanoujia and another accused, Bhagwat Singh Om Singh, from Rajasthan, according to the official.

The module backed out of the contract over disagreement on demanding a sum of Rs 50 lakh for executing the crime and given the clout of the late politician, but decided to provide logistical support and other help for carrying out the hit, he said.

Shooters Gautam and Kashyap, both hailing from Uttar Pradesh, were in Mumbai in the middle of August and were kept in the Karjat area by the module. During investigation, it also came to light that Sapre and Kanoujia were in direct contact with two wanted accused in the case, Shubham Lonkar and Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar, the official informed.

As the two shooters were aware of the topography of Karjat, a small hill town surrounded by forests which is dotted with waterfalls during the monsoon, they went for firing practice in the area along with the third gunman, Gurmail Singh, he said.

So far, the crime branch has arrested ten persons in connection with Siddique’s sensational murder in Mumbai’s Bandra area.

Police teams have fanned out in search of wanted accused Gautam, Shubham Lonkar and Akhtar against whom a look-out circular has been issued to prevent them from fleeing the country.

Investigators have not yet established the motive behind the murder and are probing the crime from different angles, including contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project in Mumbai.

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