“I thought a cracker exploded near my feet,”: Man shot at during Baba Siddique’s murder
Raj Kanojia, a 22-year-old, who was injured in the leg on the day former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique was shot dead, is devastated that he will be unable to participate in his sister’s wedding in February. Kanojia was hit by a stray bullet while returning from a juice center in Bandra.
Six rounds were fired at Siddique outside his son Zeeshan Siddique’s office on Saturday night. Two bullets struck Siddique in the chest, killing him. The Mumbai Police suspects gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, currently in a Gujarat jail, is behind the attack.
Kanojia recalls the chaotic scene when he was hit: “I thought a cracker exploded near my feet. When I checked, there was blood. People were shouting about the firing.”
Shooters Gurmail Baljit Singh and Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap were arrested that night. A third shooter, Shiv Kumar, managed to escape. Two of the accused, Kashyap and Kumar, are from Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, and had recently moved to Pune. Moreover, Shiv Kumar had posted about his gangster status online before the shooting.
Another accused, Pravin Lonkar, has been arrested and remanded to police custody. He is believed to have recruited two of the shooters and provided them shelter in Pune. The police are also searching for his brother, Shubham Lonkar, who allegedly posted that the Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for the murder.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has vowed that those responsible will face justice.