A special court in Mumbai has framed charges against 27 individuals accused in the 2024 murder of former Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, Baba Siddique. The charges, brought under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), were formally read out to the accused, all of whom pleaded not guilty.
The framing of charges marks the first stage in a criminal trial under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), where the court formalizes accusations based on presented evidence. Special Judge Satyanarayan R. Navander presided over the proceedings, noting in a previous hearing that sufficient material existed to proceed against all the accused.
Of the 27 accused, 15 were physically present in court, having been brought from Mumbai Central Prison and Kalyan jail. The remaining accused, who are lodged in a Thane jail, appeared via video conferencing due to logistical challenges in transporting them to the South Mumbai court.
Baba Siddique was fatally shot by three assailants on the night of October 12, 2024, outside his son Zeeshan's office in Bandra (East), Mumbai. The accused now face charges including murder, acts endangering life or personal safety, joint liability, forgery, use of forged documents, causing disappearance of evidence, giving false information to screen an offender, and criminal conspiracy, under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Additional charges have been levied under the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, the Arms Act, and the Maharashtra Police Act.
Among those charge-sheeted are the alleged shooters: Gurmail Singh, Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap, and Shivkumar Gautam. Anmol Bishnoi, brother of the jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, and Shubham Lonkar, who is allegedly linked to the Bishnoi gang, have been named as wanted accused in the case.
According to the prosecution, Anmol Bishnoi allegedly orchestrated the conspiracy to murder Siddique with the intention of instilling fear and asserting dominance for the crime syndicate. The police claim the shooting was carried out on Bishnoi’s instructions due to Siddique's close association with actor Salman Khan and to establish the gang's supremacy as an organized crime syndicate for financial gains.
In a statement recorded by the police, Shivkumar Gautam revealed that Bishnoi ordered the killing of Siddique because of his links with Dawood Ibrahim and involvement in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts. The instruction was to kill either the former state minister or his son, and the shooters were promised approximately ₹15 lakh for carrying out the crime.
Notably, Akashdeep Karaj Singh, a 22-year-old accused, was recently granted bail by the Bombay High Court, making him the first to receive bail in this case. The court has directed Singh, a resident of Punjab, to remain in Mumbai until the trial concludes. Singh claimed he was falsely implicated, arguing that the allegations against him were vague and lacked substance. He further stated that he was only charged with being a member of an organized crime syndicate without any specific role attributed to him in the murder.