Former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique's body was shifted from Lilavati Hospital to the Mumbai municipal corporation's Cooper Hospital for postmortem on Sunday morning, an official said. The 66-year-old leader of the Ajit Pawar faction of NCP was shot dead by three assailants in Mumbai on Saturday.
Shooters fired six bullets near the office of Siddique's son Zeeshan around 9.30 pm. He was rushed to Lilavati Hospital but succumbed to his injuries. Siddique received a threatening message about two weeks ago and police security was increased. However, he did not have any category of security. His son Zeeshan Siddique narrowly escaped as he had already moved ahead when the shooters fired. Zeeshan Siddique has been given the 'Y' category security as he got a threat message about 15 days ago.
With his death, two leaders of the NCP have been killed in a week including Sachin Kurmi from Byculla ahead of the Maharashtra elections. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde informed that two accused have been arrested and they are from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, while a manhunt was underway to arrest a third assailant. He said he had spoken to police and doctors at the hospital. The Opposition slammed the Mahayuti government over the situation of law and order in the state.
"If former MLAs are not safe in our city Mumbai, if leaders of the government are not safe then how will this government protect the common people," asked Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Anand Dubey. NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar expressed his concern over the deteriorating law and order situation. It was also alarming that the situation was being handled so lightly, Pawar said as he targeted Home Minister Fadnavis.