Cops hunt for shooter who flaunted ‘gangster’ status

Mumbai, Oct 14: Police scoured places of worship in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain and Khandwa districts in their hunt for the third shooter wanted for NCP leader Baba Siddique’s killing, while different teams looked for conspirators of the murder that has rocked Maharashtra ahead of polls.
The Mumbai police’s search for the suspected shooter, Shivkumar Gautam, continued for the second day on Monday in Madhya Pradesh with joint teams focusing on places of worship in Ujjain and Khandwa districts, officials said.
A Mumbai Police team reached MP on Sunday, a day after Siddique was shot dead by three gunmen in the financial capital, to trace Gautam.
Police have so far arrested three persons – Gurmail Baljit Singh (23), a resident of Haryana, Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19), a native of Uttar Pradesh — both alleged shooters – and “co-conspirator Pravin Lonkar from Pune.
Suspected “handler” Mohammad Yasin Akhtar is also wanted in the case.
Ujjain and Khandwa are famous for the famous Mahakal and Omkareshwar temples which attract thousands of people every day.
The Mumbai Police are joined by their counterparts in MP to pick up the trail of the third shooter, who hails from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh.
Queried whether the runaway shooter is a “religious” person who may turn up at these famous temples, a police official evaded a direct reply, saying police are also monitoring other places.
“A Mumbai Police team in collaboration with MP police is looking for the accused. They suspect he might be hiding in MP and searching him in Ujjain district and Omkareshwar (in Khandwa district) of MP,” a police officer told PTI on Sunday. (PTI)