The last rites of former Maharashtra Minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique were performed with full state honours at Bada Qabrastan in Mumbai on Sunday. Siddique was murdered on Saturday in Mumbai.
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#WATCH | Mumbai: State honour accorded to Baba Siddique at Bada Qabrastan.
He was murdered yesterday. pic.twitter.com/fFUJTQ81uc
— ANI (@ANI) October 13, 2024
Several NCP leaders, including Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Ajit Pawar, attended the funeral at Bada Qabrastan to pay their respects.
The former Maharashtra Minister and NCP leader was shot outside his office in Nirmal Nagar. Siddique sustained two gunshot wounds to his chest and was rushed to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital for emergency treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries on Saturday night.
Siddique was admitted to the hospital at around 9:30 pm. Despite resuscitation efforts, he could not be revived. Dr. Jalil Parkar, a physician at Lilavati Hospital, stated, “Around 9:30 pm, Baba Siddique was brought here. When he arrived in the emergency room, his pulse and blood pressure were unrecordable, and the ECG showed a flat line. We shifted him to the ICU.”
On Sunday, Mumbai police announced the arrest of another accused in the Baba Siddique murder case in Pune. The arrested individual, identified as 28-year-old Pravin Lonkar, is the brother of Shubham Lonkar, one of the conspirators involved in the plot. Mumbai police revealed that Shubham Lonkar, along with Pravin, had enlisted Dharmaraj Kashyap and Shivkumar Gautam in the scheme.
The Esplanade court in Mumbai has sent Gurmail Singh, another accused in the case, to Mumbai Crime Branch custody until October 21. The court also directed the authorities to present the second accused for another hearing following an ossification test.
The incident has created shockwaves across political and Bollywood circles.
On Saturday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde visited Lilavati Hospital to meet Siddique’s family.
Several other prominent figures, including Maharashtra Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, senior police officials, Union Minister and RPI(A) chief Ramdas Athawale, and Parth Pawar, son of Ajit Pawar, also arrived at the hospital to offer condolences.
Chief Minister Shinde assured strict action against the perpetrators, promising that the government would not tolerate those who take the law into their hands.
Sanjay Nirupam, a Shiv Sena leader, expressed deep sorrow over Siddique’s death, calling it a “personal loss.” He said, “The incident is worrying and unfortunate. Baba Siddique was a very good person.”
Opposition parties have raised concerns about the law and order situation in Maharashtra.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge criticised the state government, calling Siddique’s murder a “failure of law and order.” Kharge said, “We openly said that the law and order situation is not fine there. Even though he said that his life was in danger, the police didn’t protect him. This is such a big lapse from the administration’s side. Police should always be on alert in a big city like Mumbai. This is the failure of law and order and intelligence. If the government doesn’t take care of such things, that means they are neglecting such incidents.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut also criticised the Maharashtra government, pointing to the incident as evidence of the Chief Minister’s failure. “The death of Baba Siddique, who has worked for so long in Maharashtra, points towards the failure of the Chief Minister. Maharashtra has always had a good law and order situation, which is why big industries have come to Mumbai,” Raut said.
Union Minister Ramdas Athawale called for severe punishment for the accused, stating that the loss was significant for the Mahayuti alliance. Athawale said, “Baba Siddique was a minority leader, but he was also attracted to the Dalit community. We had been friends for many years… We had never imagined something like this would happen. The murderers should be punished, and those behind this should also be arrested. This is a great loss for Mahayuti.”
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Siddique, who had been with the Congress for 35 years, had joined the NCP eight months ago.
Bollywood stars also visited Siddique’s residence to pay their last respects. On Sunday, actor Salman Khan arrived at Siddique’s home. His brother Sohail Khan and sister Arpita Khan Sharma also visited to express their condolences.
Other celebrities, including Zareen Khan, Raj Kundra, and Zaheer Iqbal, also arrived at Siddique’s residence in a show of support and to pay their final respects.