On October 12, 2024 Baba Siddiqui a prominent politician in Maharashtra was shot dead by armed assailants. The 66 year old belonged to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and had been a elected to the state assembly multiple times. The attack has now been linked to the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
The incident took place in the night at 9:30 pm, when Siddique and his associate were targeted by assailants who fired multiple rounds, fatally striking the politician. Siddiqui was shot dead when he was leaving his son Zeeshan’s office, and heading towards his car in Bandra. Hours after the shooting, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for the assassination.
Two people, identified as Gurmail Baljit Singh (23) from Haryana and Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19) from Uttar Pradesh have been arrested for the murder, that comes just ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections.
Who was Baba Siddiqui
Baba Siddiqui was a famous name in the Mumbai circles, he was a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the state of Maharashtra for the Vandre West Assembly constituency. An elected MLA for three consecutive terms in 1999, 2004 and 2009, Siddiqui also served as the Minister of State for Food & Civil Supplies (FDA) and Labour.
Baba Siddiqui is a former member of the Congress party and had been part of active politics since the 1970’s. After spending almost four decades in the Congress, Siddiqui had left to join the Ajit Pawar led Nationalist Congress Party earlier this year.
Siddiqui is also very well known for his deep Bollywood connections, he was a familiar face in Mumbai’s entertainment circles. He was quite renowned for hosting lavish Iftar parties with guests ranging from politics to Bollywood, frequented by the who’s who of the city. Siddiqui was so well connected that he was also credited to having orchestrated a thawing of relations between Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan at one such event.
His relations were quite apparent as post the attack, Bollywood celebs like Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt, and Shilpa Shetty rushed to the Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital late Saturday night to offer support to the family of the politician.
The Lawrence Bishnoi Angle
Hours after the shooting on Saturday, the Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for Siddiqui’s assassination through social media. The central agencies have started an investigation into the social media post, linked to a Facebook account belonging to Shubuu Lonkar. Lonkar is believed to be an associate of the Bishnoi gang.
The viral post read, “Salman Khan, we did not want this fight, but you caused harm to our brother… Today, people are singing praises about Baba Siddique’s decency, but at one time, he was associated with Dawood under the MCOCA Act. The reason for his (Baba Siddiqui’s) death was his involvement in connecting Anuj Thapan and Dawood with Bollywood, politics, and property dealings. We have no enmity with anyone, but whoever helps Salman Khan and the Dawood gang should be prepared for consequences. If anyone causes harm to any of our brothers, we will definitely respond. We did not strike first.”
The gang in question is the Bishnoi gang led by the infamous gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. The 31-year-old Bishnoi hails from the Dhattaranwali village in Punjab’s Ferozepur district coming from a well-off family of agriculturists. Lawrence first got involved in student politics and later with his accomplice Goldy Brar delved into the life of crime.
His first criminal charges were filed in 2010, involving an attempt to murder. Bishnoi has since accumulated a long list of accusations ranging from extortion to murder. Though he is currently lodged in a jail in Ahmedabad, he continues to manage his criminal operations from behind bars. There are reportedly over 700 shooters in the Lawrence Bishnoi gang across the country.
Clash With Salman Khan
Once again the name of Salman Khan has popped up in a Lawrence Bishnoi case. Previously on many occasions Lawrence Bishnoi has issued death threats to the Bollywood actor. Bishnoi has repeatedly targeted Salman Khan after the 1998 poaching case in which Khan was accused of killing a blackbuck during the filming of a movie in Rajasthan. The Bishnoi community, which considers the blackbuck a sacred animal has on multiple occasions asked Salman to publicly apologize for the killing or face consequences.
In 2018, a close associate of Bishnoi, Sampath Nehra, who allegedly carried out a recce of Salman Khan’s residence, disclosed that he was tasked with assassinating Salman Khan for his involvement in the Black Buck hunting case. Earlier in April 2024, multiple rounds of bullets were fired outside Salman Khan’s Mumbai residence, allegedly by members of the Bishnoi gang. These attempts prompted Mumbai police to increase security around the actor, with constant police presence now stationed near his house.
In March last year, Khan’s manager had received a threat email, after which an FIR was registered against Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar. In November 2023, Bishnoi had claimed responsibility for shooting at famous Punjabi actor-singer Gippy Grewal’s home, over his alleged association with Khan.
The shocking murder of Baba Siddiqui and the threats directed at Salman Khan in the consequent posts will definitely send shockwaves in the Mumbai entertainment fraternity. The Bollywood scene that was once extensively linked to the Dawood gang is now being shaken up by the entry of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. As Salman Khan who was reportedly quite close to Baba Siddiqui remains a target of the Bishnoi gang and the threat to his safety continues to loom large.