Baba Siddique murder case: Mumbai Police arrests two more accused from Pune, fifth weapon recovered from...

The Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Thursday arrested two more accused in the Baba Siddique murder case. The Mumbai Crime Branch presented the arrested individuals, Aditya Gudankar and Rafiq Shaikh, in Esplanade court. Both the arrested accused were sent to the custody of the Mumbai Police till November 13. According to officials, a total of 18 accused have been arrested so far. Both the accused were arrested from Pune.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mumbai Crime Branch police arrested another suspect in connection with the murder of NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique. According to officials, the suspect, identified as Gaurav Vilas Apune (32), was nabbed in Maharashtra's Pune. During the investigation, officials found that Apune had met with other suspects to plan the assassination and was in contact with the group of shooters initially hired to kill Siddique. Earlier, on October 12, The NCP leader and former Maharashtra Minister Siddique was shot dead outside his office in Nirmal Nagar. He sustained two gunshot wounds to his chest before being brought to Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital for emergency treatment, where he succumbed to death.

The gang led by jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi has claimed responsibility for the murder. The Mumbai Crime Branch has deployed five teams outside Maharashtra to locate additional suspects, and teams are actively searching in Haryana for the alleged mastermind behind the murder. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Crime Branch recovered another weapon used in Baba Siddique's killing from the Pune residence of one of the suspects, Rupesh Mohol. This was the fifth weapon recovered in the murder case.

According to the Crime Branch, they are still searching for one more weapon and three live cartridges. The Crime Branch officials believe that around six weapons were brought to Mumbai as part of the murder plot. Earlier, a weapon was recovered from the Raigad residence of another suspect, Ram Fulchand Kanoujia, where he was living on rent. Police had also said that, upon examining the shooters' mobile phones, pictures of pistols were found.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from ANI)