Mumbai The Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Friday arrested five more people in connection with the murder of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddiqui, taking the number of accused arrested in the sensational case to nine.
Acting on specific information, the crime branch conducted raids in Panvel and Karjat in neighboring Raigarh district and arrested these five people, an official said.
The arrested accused include Nitin Sapre (32) from Dombivali, Ram Kanojia (44) from Ambernath, Sambhaji Kisan Pardhi (43) from Panvel, Pradeep Thombre (37) from Ambernath and Chetan Pardhi (27) from Ambernath. All of them were produced before a local court, which sent them to police custody till October 25.
Joint Police Commissioner Lakshmi Gautam said that Nitin Sapre was in contact with the main conspirator and had provided weapons. Apart from this, some financial transactions were also done and he had also provided three pistols to the accused. He said the arrested people were also in touch with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which is accused of Siddiqui’s murder.
While presenting the remand application in the court, the police said that these accused were involved in the conspiracy to murder the NCP leader. The police also told the court that during the investigation along with other arrested accused, the role of these five accused was established and their mobile numbers were found in the mobile phone of the main accused.
Sheela Gupta, appearing for the five accused, opposed sending them to police custody and denied all the allegations made by the police.
He stressed that the accused are laborers and have been arrested on suspicious grounds, hence they should be sent to judicial custody. The court rejected their plea and sent the five accused to police custody.
