Mumbai Crime Branch has detained another suspect from Ludhiana in connection with the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddiqui. The accused, identified as Sujit Sushil Singh (32), is the 15th person to be arrested in the case. According to senior Crime Branch officials, Sujit acted as a middleman between mastermind Zeeshan Akhtar and the Nitin Sapre gang, responsible for supplying weapons to the shooters. The Crime Branch team is currently bringing Sujit back to Mumbai from Ludhiana.
Officials from Mumbai Crime Branch revealed that Sujit fled to his in-laws' house in Ludhiana a month before the murder. Originally from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, he had been residing in the Cheddanagar area of Ghatkopar, Mumbai, for the past few years and was employed there. Following the conspiracy to kill Baba Siddiqui, Sujit escaped to Ludhiana. He had direct connections with mastermind Zeeshan Akhtar. Once in Ludhiana, Sujit introduced Akhtar to accused Nitin Sapre and Ram Kannaujia, who facilitated the procurement of weapons for Baba’s murder. Sources report that, on Sujit’s instruction, Zeeshan paid money to Nitin and Ram for the weapons. Sujit’s arrest is expected to lead to significant revelations about the Bishnoi gang’s involvement in the killing.
Further investigation by the Mumbai Crime Branch revealed that on July 7, 2024, Ram Kannaujia traveled to Udaipur, Rajasthan, to procure the weapons. His expenses for the stay, including hotel costs, were covered by mastermind Zeeshan Akhtar, who withdrew the funds from the account of another accused, Amit Kumar. Investigators suspect that both Amit and Zeeshan traveled to Udaipur to finance Ram Kannaujia, though this angle is still under investigation.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Crime Branch has sent images of all recovered pistols found on the suspects' mobile phones to the Rajasthan Police. The photos are being shared to trace the origin of these firearms, with suspicions that they may have come from Pakistan. So far, five pistol images have been retrieved from the accused's phones, four of which have been recovered, while the fifth remains unaccounted for.