New Delhi: The police on Monday filed a 4,590-page chargesheet in the murder of NCP politician and three-time MLA Baba Siddique. According to the chargesheet, Bollywood actor Salman Khan was the primary target of the gang which was behind the shooting of Baba Siddique on October 12 last year.

The chargesheet stated that the killing of Baba Siddique was part of a fallback plan after an initial attempt to assassinate Khan failed because of the security cover around the popular actor. It pointed out that Siddique became a target of the Anmol Bishnoi gang because of his close association with Khan and his alleged connections to global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.

The police said seeking revenge for the custodial death of Anuj Thapan, an accused in a previous shooting case involving Khan, was another purpose behind targeting the actor and his friend.

The original plan was to target either Baba Siddique, his son Zeeshan, or both during the Ganpati immersion. But, it failed as neither participated in the event. On October 12, Siddique was gunned down soon after leaving Zeeshan’s office in Nirmal Nagar, Bandra (East), about five minutes after his son had left the place. He was shot dead near the Nirmal Nagar police station, just after he stepped outside.

The chargesheet named 26 arrested accused and outlined the role of three suspects still at large: Mohammad Yasin Akhtar alias Sikandar, Anmol Singh Bishnoi alias Bhanu and Shubham Lonkar alias Shubbu.

It said Anmol Bishnoi was the mastermind behind the killing as part of a calculated strategy to assert dominance, instill fear and expand his extortion racket. There was no mention of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in the chargesheet which was submitted by the anti-extortion cell before the special MCOCA court.

Police said they did not find any evidence of Lawrence Bishnoi’s role in the murder. The Slum Rehabilitation Authority angle as alleged by Zeeshan was also ruled out.

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Tirtho has 28 years of experience as a media professional. He has worked in a number of media organisations, including India Today, The Times of India, The Telegraph, Down To Earth, Hindustan Times, Muscat Daily and Khaleej Times, in key roles. He has five poetry collections under his belt, and is working on his next book on short stories.

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