The Mumbai Police's crime branch on Sunday arrested a scrap dealer from Navi Mumbai for allegedly providing a weapon to shooters in the Baba Siddique murder case.
The accused has been identified as 32-year-old Bhagwat Singh Om Singh, originally from Udaipur in Rajasthan, who is currently staying in Navi Mumbai.
Singh was produced before a court which remanded him to police custody till October 26, the official said.
This is the tenth arrest in the muder case of the former minister after five people were held on Friday after raids in Panvel and Karjat in neighbouring Raigad district. They were identified as Nitin Gautam Sapre (32), Sambhaji Kisan Pardhi (44), Pradeep Dattu Thombre (37), Chetan Dilip Pardhi and Ram Fulchand Kanoujia (43).
The interrogation by police revealed that the Sapre-led module had demanded Rs 50 lakh from the mediator to kill Baba Siddique. But that did not work out. So, due to the disagreement over the contract, they decided to back out.
Police have so far arrested 10 persons from various locations for providing logistical support and firearms, in connection with Siddique's killing on October 12.
Baba Siddiqui was fatally shot, prima facie by three persons, near the office of his MLA son Zeeshan Siddiqui in Bandra. The suspected shooters in the custody of police are Gurmail Baljit Singh (23) and Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19).
The main shooter, Shivkumar Gautam, and two other persons involved in the murder conspiracy are still absconding. The police have issued a look-out circular (LOC) against the three accused.
According to crime branch sources, the three shooters and the five accused were previously unknown to each other, PTI reported.