Baba Siddique murder case: Co-conspirator arrested from Pune, had hired shooters

Pune: Maharashtra police have arrested Pravin Lonkar from Pune on Sunday evening in connection with the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddiqui.

Police were searching for 28-year-old Lonkar from Saturday for his involvement in the conspiracy to kill Baba Siddiqui.

One Shubham Lonkar has shared a post on Facebook after Baba Siddiqui's murder in which he claimed that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang has committed the murder of Siddiqui.

After that, the police started searching for the Lonkar brothers.

According to police sources, the 28-year-old Praveen Lonkar was arrested from Pune late this evening.

Praveen Lonkar is the elder brother of Shubham Lonkar. Shubham Lonkar along with Praveen Lonkar were involved in the conspiracy to kill Baba Siddiqui, said police sources.

The both have hired Dharmaraj Kashyap and Shiv Kumar Gautam to kill Baba Siddiqui. Police have so far arrested three people, including Praveen Lonkar, and are still searching for two others.

The police have made searches for Shubham Lonkar of Newri in Akot taluka of Maharashtra after receiving information that he is in touch with the Bishnoi gang. However, he, along with his brother, had left the village since June 2024. The police, who were looking for both lonkar in connection with their association with the Bishnoi gang, did not find either of them at home since the house was locked. The neighbours of Lonkar were also told to police that both had left Akot in the first week of June 2024.

The Shubham Lonkar shared the post in which he said that the killing of Siddiqui was done in revenge for the death of Anuj Thapan. This post has further threatened that those helping Salman Khan and the Dawood gang should be ready for further consequences.

Shubham Lonkar, a resident of Warjenagar in Pune, was arrested by the Pune Police on January 30 in another case, said police sources.