Baba Siddique case: Police custody of nine accused extended till Oct 26

A court here on Friday extended till October 26 the police remand of nine accused in the Baba Siddique murder case.

The NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister was shot dead on October 12 near his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique's office in Nirmal Nagar in Bandra East. Nine persons, who were arrested on various dates, were produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Esplanade Court) V R Patil at the end of their initial remand on Friday.  While police sought extension of remand by three days, the court extended it by one day till Saturday. The nine comprise Gurmail Baljit Singh (23), Dharmaraj Kashyap (21), Harish Kumar Nisad (26), Pravin Lonkar (30), Nitin Gautam Sapre (32), Sambhaji Kisan Pardhi (44), Pradeep Dattu Thombre (37), Chetan Dilip Pardhi and Ram Fulchand Kanoujia (43).  As per police, Haryana resident Singh and Uttar Pradesh native Kashyap as well as wanted accused Shivkumar Gautam shot at Siddique, while Pune-based Pravin Lonkar's brother Shubham is allegedly associated with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.  He and other wanted accused had conspired to carry out the hit and supplied firearms to the shooters. Nisad, a scrap dealer from Pune, provided financial help for the operation, as per police.  Sapre is from Dombivali, while Pardhi, Thombre and Pardhi (27) are from Ambernath in Thane district. Kanoujia is a resident of Panvel in Raigad.  Main shooter Shivkumar Gautam as well as key accused Shubham Lonkar and Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar are currently on the run. A lookout circular (LoC) has been issued against the three.