One of the suspects that the Mumbai Police are looking for in the sensational murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique in Mumbai's Bandra last week had also been questioned after the firing outside the residence of actor Salman Khan in April, but was let off because of lack of evidence.
Police said, in their investigation, Shubham Lonkar is emerging as one of the key conspirators in the murder of Siddique, who was a three-time MLA and a member of the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP.
Sources said that after the firing outside Salman Khan's residence, Galaxy Apartments, in Bandra, Lonkar, who is believed to be a key member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, was one of the people who had been picked up for questioning. His name was allegedly taken by several people who had been interrogated in the case. The sources said Lonkar was accused of providing shelter to the suspects in the firing case but had to be let go because no strong evidence could be found.
Police had told NDTV earlier that Lonkar and his brother, Pravin, were two of the key conspirators in the Siddique murder and had enlisted two of the shooters – Dharamraj Kashyap and Shiv Kumar Gautam – in the plot. A note posted on Facebook on Sunday in which the Lawrence Bishnoi gang took responsibility for Siddique's murder was also allegedly from Shubham Lonkar's account.
While Pravin was arrested from Pune on Sunday evening, Shubham is still on the run.
The names of the Lonkar brothers were used by the police in court on Monday to state officially for the first time that the Bishnoi gang could be behind Siddique's killing.
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In the Facebook post, Lonkar claimed that Siddique had been killed because he was linked to India's most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, was close to Salman Khan and because of the death of Anuj Thapan, one of the arrested suspects in the shooting outside Mr Khan's house, in police custody.
Thapan was found dead on May 1 inside the Mumbai Crime Branch lock-up. The police had said he died by suicide but his family had claimed he was tortured in custody.
"We do not have any enmity with anyone but whoever helps Salman Khan and the Dawood gang, keep your accounts in order ('hisab-kitaab kar lena'),” Lonkar wrote in Hindi in the Facebook post, whose authenticity is being verified.
Security has been tightened around Mr Khan's house in Bandra as well as his farmhouse in Panvel near Mumbai.
