'Went to Pune, stopped talking after...': Mother of accused in Baba Siddique murder case
"Two months ago, he went to work in a scrapyard. He went to Pune. We have contacted only once since then," she told ANI. "I was not aware of what was happening in Mumbai."
As police continue to probe the high-profile murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, the families of the accused are grappling with shock and disbelief. The mothers of the young men implicated in the murder claimed they knew little of their sons' activities in recent months.
One of the arrested suspects, Dharamraj Kashyap, 19, hails from Uttar Pradesh. His mother, speaking to ANI from their home in Bahraich, expressed disbelief at the accusations, saying her son had left home two months ago to work in a scrapyard in Pune.
"Two months ago, he went to work in a scrapyard. He went to Pune. We have contacted only once since then," she told ANI. "I was not aware of what was happening in Mumbai."
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Similarly, the mother of an absconding suspect also spoke out, claiming she was unaware of her son's activities in Mumbai. "He went to Pune to work in a scrapyard. I knew only this. He came home during Holi, and after that, he did not return. He even stopped talking to me on the phone, so I cannot say anything about the incident," she said, adding that her son was around 18 or 19 years old.
The grandmother of the second arrested suspect, Gurmail Singh from Haryana, expressed a sense of betrayal.
"He was my grandson, but he is nothing to me now. He has not been in contact with us," she said firmly.
Baba Siddique shot dead outside son's office in Bandra
The suspects are accused of being involved in the fatal shooting of Baba Siddique, 66, a well-known political figure in Mumbai with close ties to Bollywood. Siddique was shot by three assailants on Saturday night outside his son MLA Zeeshan Siddique's office in Mumbai's Bandra suburb. He was taken to Lilavati Hospital, where he was declared dead.
The murder has rocked political and celebrity circles, as Siddique was known for his connections to Bollywood stars such as Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.
The police are investigating various possible motives, including business rivalry and disputes over a slum rehabilitation project.
Two of the three alleged attackers have been arrested, including Kashyap and Singh. However, the third suspect remains at large. Police are also looking into a social media post claiming responsibility for the murder by a purported member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
The murder of Baba Siddique marks the first high-profile political assassination in Mumbai in decades, reviving memories of politically motivated killings in the 1990s.
