Mumbai, Aug 12 Police on Wednesday told a special court in Mumbai there was no intention of shielding gangster Anmol Bishnoi, a wanted accused in the murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, and all steps were being taken to secure his custody.
The Mumbai police, responding to a show-cause issued on August 5 by the MCOCA court questioning why action should not be taken against the investigating officer (IO) for allegedly failing to produce Anmol Bishnoi, lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail, via video link as suggested in a July 10 order.
The police insisted securing his physical custody was essential for a thorough investigation into the 2024 murder case. They asserted producing the accused via video conferencing is legally impermissible for a first-time arrest.
The Mumbai crime branch, probing the case, however, cited a jurisdictional hurdle in securing the custody of the gangster.
Anmol Bishnoi, who was previously extradited and arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), is currently lodged in Tihar Jail in the national capital. Wanted in several sensational cases, the gangster was arrested by the NIA in November last year upon his deportation from the US in a case related to nexus between criminal gangs and terror groups.
The central government passed an order on December 5, 2025, under Section 303(1) of the BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita) and Section 43-D(3) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), expressly restricting his movement outside the high security prison and the jurisdiction of Delhi for one year or until the completion of his trial, the police's response said.
The investigating officer informed the court that the Mumbai police had promptly applied to a Patiala House Court in New Delhi for a production warrant, but it was rejected precisely because of the central government's 2025 order.
"There was no question of keeping the said accused (Bishnoi) away from the trial of the present offence (Siddique murder case)," the police affirmed.
They emphasised the intention of the IO is not, and has never been, to shield the accused.
The police clarified "there has been no wilful/deliberate disobedience" of the court's order.
"It is most respectfully submitted that all acts and steps taken by the investigating agency were directed solely towards securing the production of the accused and for the purposes of prosecution," the police stressed.
The court's July 10 order came after Siddique's family moved a plea seeking appropriate directions for the prosecution to procure Anmol Bishnoi's custody.
The application, filed through advocates Pradip Gharat and Trivankumar Karnani, alleged that police were avoiding taking Anmol Bishnoi's custody due to "external pressure".
Siddique (66), a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, 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, has been named as a wanted accused in the Siddique murder case.
During investigation, Anmol Bishnoi had emerged as the main conspirator in the killing of the veteran politician, police previously said.
After the murder, the police arrested more than two dozen individuals, including the alleged gunmen and conspirators, over several months for the killing.
