Baba Siddique murder: Cong leader calls arrests ‘suspicious’, seeks CBI probe

Expressing apprehensions over the law-and-order situation in Maharashtra, Congress leader Rashid Alvi on Sunday demanded a CBI investigation into the murder of Nationalist Congress Party leader and former state minister Baba Siddique.
Alvi also alleged that the arrests of two persons so far in the case is “suspicious” and claimed that they were arrested to conceal the incompetence of state police, news agency ANI reported.
“This should be investigated…The arrests made in the case are suspicious. I think those arrests were made just to hide the incompetence of the police there. This matter should be investigated by CBI,” Alvi said.
The Congress leader also questioned public safety in the state if a well-known politician can be shot dead in a brazen manner in the city. “He was a well-known politician of Maharashtra. Earlier, he was in our party, then he joined Ajit Pawar’s faction. He was provided with security. Despite that, he was shot by strangers. It is a concerning matter. Is there no law and order? If Baba Siddique can be murdered like this, then how the common man of Maharashtra would feel safe?,” he asked.
Addressing a press conference earlier in the day, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray also raised suspicions about the murder case.
“Whether it is the arrest of accused in Baba Siddique’s murder or encounter of Akshay Shinde (Badlapur rape case accused), suspicions are being raised on every act of this govt and this is not a good thing. We are not sure who are these arrested accused. They (Maharashtra govt) are keeping tabs on our movements but are not watching the criminals,” Thackeray said.
The Mumbai Crime Branch police arrested two accused, identified as Gurmail Singh, a native of Haryana and Dharamraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh. The third accused is still believed to be absconding.
A Mumbai court sent Singh to police custody till October 21. The court ordered the police to produce the second accused before it again, after conducting the ossification test. An ossification test, also known as a bone age test, is a medical procedure that estimates a person’s age by analysing the degree of fusion of their bones.
(With agency inputs)