Mumbai, Jul 3 The kin of Baba Siddique on Friday moved a plea before a special court here seeking directions to the police to take custody of wanted accused Anmol Bishnoi in the NCP leader's murder case.
Siddique (66), a former Maharashtra minister, was shot dead by three assailants outside his son Zeeshan's office in Mumbai's Bandra East area on the night of October 12, 2024.
Anmol, the younger brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, was deported from the US in November last year and was subsequently arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA). He is currently lodged in Tihar jail in New Delhi.
The application, filed by Siddique's daughter Shehzeen Ziauddin Siddique, alleged that police were avoiding taking Anmol Bishnoi's custody due to "external pressure".
The intervener (the Siddique family) is assured that Anmol Bishnoi's interrogation will "lead to the exposure and disclosure" of persons at whose instance he conspired with the co-accused to commit the murder, the plea said.
"And because of the external pressures, which names the prosecuting agency does not want to come out or be surfaced, they are avoiding taking custody of Bishnoi," said the plea filed through advocates Pradip Gharat and Trivankumar Karnani.
The family highlighted that the failure to bring Anmol Bishnoi before the court now, while charges have already been framed against 27 other accused, will lead to a duplication of the trial process and wasting of the court's time and state resources.
The plea said the DCB-CID (which is probing the case) must be called upon to take immediate steps to take the custody of Anmol Bishnoi in the present case without any further excuse or delay.
The special MCOCA court, presiding over the case, has sought a response from the prosecution. The matter will be next heard on July 10.
As many as 27 people have been charged under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) provisions for murder as well as relevant sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Anmol Bishnoi and two others are wanted accused in the case.
Anmol Bishnoi is also wanted in the case pertaining to the firing outside actor Salman Khan's Bandra residence.
