MCOCA invoked in Baba Siddique murder case

The Mumbai police has invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOC) Act in NCP politician Baba Siddique’s murder case, officials said on Saturday.

The crime branch has so far arrested 26 persons, including the alleged main shooter Shiv Kumar Gautam, in the case. “The provisions of the stringent MCOCA are invoked in the Baba Siddique murder case,” a Mumbai police official said without elaborating.

It is pertinent to mention here that confessions made to the police under MCOCA are admissible as evidence in court. It is also difficult to secure bail under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOC) Act.

Former Maharashtra minister Siddique, 66, was shot dead on October 12 by three assailants outside his son MLA Zeeshan Siddique’s office building in Bandra East in Mumbai.

He sustained two bullet injuries on his chest and was rushed to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, where he passed away. Jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother Anmol was arrested in the US for his alleged role in the murder of Siddique and firing outside actor Salman Khan’s Mumbai home.

Suspected key conspirators Shubham Lonkar and Zishan Mohammad Akhtar are still on the run.