Crime branch struggles to trace mastermind behind former minister's murder

Mumbai: It's been a week since Baba Siddiqui (66) was shot dead in Bandra (East). But the important question of who gave the “betel nut” to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to murder the former minister is still unresolved.

It is reliably revealed by NBTV that Lawrence himself did not accept the “betel nut”, but someone at the second rung of the gang, such as Goldie Brar or Lawrence's brother Anmol, agreed to the murder for a huge price.

Sources said that Lawrence, lodged in Ahmedabad's Sabarmati jail for the last two months, is completely cut off from the rest of the world. He does not have access to a mobile phone and jammers have been installed in the prison, making it impossible for him to communicate with others outside.

The crime branch has formed 15 teams to solve the murder mystery. But apart from revealing the fact that the dreaded Lawrence Bishnoi gang had carried out this sensational operation, little is known about the motive and the mastermind. Now she is searching for three people who have fled. The Crime Branch believes that these three people will be successful in solving the mystery behind the murder.

Baba's son Zeeshan, who is MLA from Bandra (East), has told the police that some builders, whose SRA projects his father was opposing, could be behind the murder. The police are pretending that the main reason for their failure to achieve success is that they have still not been able to get access to Lawrence Bishnoi who is in Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad.

In fact, soon after the Bishnoi gang opened fire on actor Salman Khan's Bandra apartment on April 14, the Crime Branch was trying to bring Lawrence Bishnoi to Mumbai for custodial interrogation. But it is still yet to receive a response from the Union Home Ministry.

Those arrested so far by the crime branch, including the two shooters, arms supplier and local operator, have disclosed information only regarding their role in the conspiracy. The underworld works on the principle of need to know, due to which it is difficult, but not impossible, to trace the person or persons giving the “betel nut”.

Crime branch units are also troubled by the fact that the decision-making process has now become highly centralized. Earlier, inspectors and other officers attached to inter-units could call anyone for questioning. But, now these decisions are taken at the highest level in the Crime Branch. Furthermore, the Crime Branch actually has very little information about the Bishnoi gang and its operations.