Baba Siddique murder case: Two accused move plea to retract confession statements

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Two accused in the Baba Siddique murder case moved a plea before the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Court on Monday, seeking to retract their confessional statements recorded by Mumbai Police. The accused, Gurmail Singh and Harishkumar Kashyap, claimed that they did not give the statements voluntarily, news agency PTI reported.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader was shot at in the Nirmal Nagar of Bandra in suburban Mumbai on October 12 and died soon after in a nearby hospital.

In their plea to the special MCOCA Court, Singh and Kashyap claimed that Mumbai Police recorded their confessional statements "which were involuntary".

"As per instructions from accused, the investigation authority has no evidence and, therefore, only to implicate the present accused and the other accused in this false case, have recorded this confession," the plea filed through advocate Siddharth Agarwal said.

According to PTI, the plea stated that Singh and Kashyap wish to retract the confession taken by the investigating authority.

The court has asked the probe agency to file its response.

Meanwhile, the special MCOCA Court sent 13 accused in the Baba Siddique murder case to judicial custody at the end of their police remand on Monday, PTI reported.

Mumbai Police's Crime Branch has arrested 26 accused so far, including the alleged main shooter Shivkumar Gautam. On November 30, the stringent MCOCA was invoked against the accused, all of whom are presently in judicial custody.

Meanwhile, the police are on the lookout for Shubham Lonkar, the key conspirator in the Baba Siddique murder case.

According to the police, while discussing the execution of the plan, Lonkar used to tell the shooters that they would find him in the "jungle and mountains". This revelation by the shooters to the crime branch has strengthened their belief that Lonkar might be hiding in Jharkhand with Maoists. The suspicion raises concerns within the crime branch and intelligence agencies about whether the Lawrence Bishnoi gang has joined forces with the Maoists.

Earlier, evidence had surfaced of Lonkar visiting Jharkhand with arrested accused Gaurav Apune for weapons training. It was revealed that the duo had received AK-47 training in a Maoist-affected area of Jharkhand, which is also known for illegal mining activities.

According to sources, the crime branch is taking the help of the local police in Jharkhand to explore this angle to trace Lonkar. The crime branch has so far examined all the possible routes which Lonkar may have used to escape out of India as he has visited Nepal on multiple occasions as well as Azerbaijan.

(With PTI inputs)