Gujarat man held from Akola, 25th arrest in Baba Siddique murder case

The Mumbai Crime Branch on Sunday arrested a Gujarat resident from Akola in Maharashtra in the Baba Siddique murder case, taking the number of people held in the incident to 25, an official said.

Salmanbhai Iqbalbhai Vohra, a resident of Petlad in Gujarat’s Anand district, was held from Balapur in Akola, some 565 kilometres from the metropolis, with the help of the police there, the Crime Branch official said.

The 66-year-old NCP leader was gunned down on October 12 near his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Bandra East’s Nirmal Nagar area.

“Vohra had opened a bank account in May this year and had provided financial support to Naresh Kumar Singh, brother of arrested accused Gurmail Singh, Rupesh Mohol and Harish Kumar. He has also helped others connected to the crime,” the official said.

Gurmail Singh from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh resident Dharmaraj Kashyap were held from the spot immediately after the murder.

The police recently got a major breakthrough in the case when it arrested alleged main shooter Shiv Kumar Gautam from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh. Gautam, who was on the run since October 12, was held while trying to flee to Nepal, as per police.