Mumbai Police Declare Anmol Bishnoi ‘Wanted’ as MCOCA is Imposed on Baba Siddique’s Assassins
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Mumbai, Nov 30 (NationPress) In a significant development in the murder investigation of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique, the Mumbai Police have officially declared gangster Anmol Bishnoi a ‘wanted suspect’ and applied the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against 26 other individuals connected to the homicide, as announced on Saturday.
According to police officials, while 26 suspects, including three sharpshooters, have been apprehended, authorities are currently pursuing three additional fugitives, including Anmol Bishnoi – the younger sibling of incarcerated mafia figure Lawrence Bishnoi.
“The provisions of the MCOCA, enacted in 1999, have been invoked in this case regarding the murder of Siddique. The investigation is ongoing. Currently, 26 suspects have been detained, while three suspects – Anmol Bishnoi, Shubham Rameshwar Lonkar, and Zishan Mohammad Akhtar – remain wanted,” police officials stated on Saturday.
Anmol Bishnoi, aged 26, was recently apprehended in the United States and subsequently arrested by local law enforcement. He is presently held in custody at the Pottawattamie County Jail in Iowa.
On October 12, Siddique (66), a prominent NCP figure and former Congress Minister with strong ties to Bollywood and business sectors, was shot outside his son Zeeshan Siddique's office in Bandra East during the peak of the Dassehra celebrations, igniting a nationwide political uproar.
Initially, the Nirmal Nagar Police Station registered a First Information Report (FIR) concerning the incident, and subsequently, the Crime Branch-CID took over due to the political ramifications ahead of the recent November 20 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
As part of their investigation, the Mumbai Police have arrested 26 suspects in a coordinated operation across various districts of the state and beyond.
The police have filed charges under various sections of the BNS, including 103(1), 109, 125, along with sections 3, 5, 25, and 27 of the Arms Act, as well as sections 37 and 135 of the Maharashtra Police Act (MPA), and now additional counts under MCOCA.
Thus far, the police have confiscated five weapons and 64 rounds of ammunition from the suspects, which include three sharpshooters tasked with the assassination of Siddique or his son Zeeshan B. Siddique.
Legal experts have clarified that confessions made to the police under MCOCA are admissible as court evidence and are challenging to retract or use for bail applications.
In addition to the murder of Siddique, the Bishnoi group has also been allegedly implicated in multiple threats against Bollywood icon Salim Khan and his actor son Salman Khan, as well as a shooting incident at their residence in Bandra on April 14.
