Baba Siddique. , Photograph Credit score: ANI
Shehzeen Ziauddin Siddique, widow of former Maharashtra Minister Baba Siddique, who was shot lifeless in Bandra East on October 12, 2024, has moved the Bombay Excessive Court docket looking for a recent investigation into the homicide. Ms. Siddique, in her petition, has demanded that the probe be handed over to a court-monitored Particular Investigation Crew (SIT), or alternatively, to an unbiased officer or police company from one other State.
The present investigation by Mumbai Police is “biased, tainted and incomplete,” and has intentionally prevented probing the position of politically linked builders concerned in slum redevelopment tasks, the petition alleged. “Your complete investigation is a scene to create an impression {that a} laborious and deep investigation is finished… however the nature of the identical is like ‘digging a mountain and discovering out a rat’,” it acknowledged.
Whereas the police have named Anmol Bishnoi, brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoibecause the alleged mastermind, Ms. Siddique contested this declare. She argued that Bishnoi’s position is getting used to deflect consideration from the true culprits. “It’s not acceptable and convincing that he could be eradicated for the given trifling causes,” the petition learn, including that the charge-sheet “stops at Anmol Bishnoi with out going to the foundation of the reality.”
The petition additional alleged that the investigating officer, ACP Kishor Kumar Shinde, acted below political stress and deliberately prevented interrogating key suspects.
Amongst these named within the petition are builders Mohit Kamboj, Prithvijeet Rajaram Chavan, Ashok Mundra, Nabil Patel, and others, alleged to be a part of a builder foyer with sturdy political backing. It claimed that Baba Siddique was a “hurdle” to profitable SRA tasks in Bandra to Andheri and was eradicated for opposing them.
A WhatsApp message despatched by Chavan to Baba Siddique on July 15, 2024, is cited as proof of menace. The petition has quoted the message, forwarded by Mr. Siddique to his spouse on July 29, “I would not need you to jeopardize Zeeshan’s political profession for my challenge or my positive factors.”
The petition additionally documented repeated requests for enhanced safety made by Baba Siddique and his son Zeeshan Siddique, then a sitting MLA, to the Commissioner of Police after which Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. These requests had been allegedly ignored.
The petition mentioned that Baba Siddique was as a result of be nominated as a Member of the Legislative Council (MILC), including a political motive to the homicide.
Following the homicide, 26 folks had been arrested and booked below the Maharashtra Management of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA). A charge-sheet working over 5,500 pages was filed in January 2025. Nonetheless, Shehzeen Siddique alleged that the proof is “voluminous however deceptive,” and that her personal assertion as a key witness was by no means recorded.
The petition critiqued the charge-sheet for counting on inadmissible materials, failing to conduct identification parades, mishandling voice samples, and improperly seizing cellphones. It additionally alleges that the police had been reluctant to pursue the extradition of Anmol Bishnoi, with the investigating officer reportedly stating orally that “they weren’t ” in bringing him again.
The matter is anticipated to be heard by the Excessive Court docket subsequent week.
Revealed – November 08, 2025 04:49 am IST