Mumbai, Oct 25 (PTI) Mumbai Police on Friday arrested a person in the murder case of NCP leader Baba Siddique from Ludhiana in Punjab.
Sujit Sushil Singh (32), a resident of Ghatkopar in Mumbai and the 15th person to be held in the high-profile case, was linked to absconding accused Zeeshan Akhtar, one of the alleged masterminds of the killing, a crime branch official said.
Elsewhere, the investigators seized a pistol from the rented house of one of the arrested accused in Panvel area near Mumbai.
In the hierarchy of the conspirators, Sujit was above Nitin Sapre and Ram Kanoujia (both arrested), the official said, adding that Sujit and Akhtar took instructions from above and passed them to Sapre and Kanoujia.
Sujit, resident of Chheda Nagar in Ghatkopar, fled Mumbai a month before the crime which took place on October 12, and was staying with his relatives in Ludhiana, the official said.
Crime branch officials also traced his financial transactions with Kanoujia and Sapre, the official said. The money was given to the alleged shooters and others involved in the crime, he added.
The masterminds used different people to provide money to the members of different "modules" of shooters hired for the killing of the NCP leader, the official said.
Former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique (66) was shot dead by three gunmen near his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique's office in Mumbai's Bandra area on October 12.
Meanwhile, a pistol and three bullets were recovered from Ram Kanoujia's rented house in Palaspe area of Panvel town in neighbouring Raigad district, the crime branch official said.
Kanoujia (43), arrested last week, was part of the group that allegedly provided firearms and logistical support to the shooters.
A court here on Friday extended till October 26 the police remand of nine accused persons.
While police sought the extension of remand by three days, the court extended it by one day.
The nine accused produced before the court were Gurnail Baljit Singh (23), Dharmaraj Kashyap (21), Harish Kumar Nisad (26), Pravin Lonkar (30), Nitin Gautam Sapre (32), Sambhaji Kisan Pardhi (44), Pradeep Dattu Thombre (37), Chetan Dilip Pardhi and Ram Fulchand Kanoujia (43).
As per police, Haryana resident Gurnail Singh and Uttar Pradesh native Kashyap alongwith wanted accused Shivkumar Gautam shot Siddique.
Shubham Lonkar and Mohammed Zeeshan Akhtar too are wanted in the case. Shubham, who has links with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, allegedly hatched the murder conspiracy with the other wanted accused.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)