The Crime Branch is probing Nepalese links as absconding suspects evaded arrest.

Mumbai: In the Baba Siddiqui murder case, Mumbai Crime Branch sources have revealed that absconding shooters Shiv Kumar Gautam, Shubham Lonkar and Zeeshan Akhtar might have fled to Nepal. On the basis of this information, apart from the India-Nepal border, two teams are also conducting raids in Haryana and Punjab.

Meanwhile, a fifth weapon has been seized from Pune; A pistol from the house of accused Rupesh Mohol. The crime branch believes that there is still one more weapon and three live cartridges unaccounted for, estimating that around six weapons were brought to Mumbai in connection with the crime. Police have also seized four mobile phones and two SIM cards.

It has also been revealed that one of the accused, Sujit Kumar Singh, had met absconding mastermind Zeeshan Akhtar in Ludhiana. After fleeing Mumbai on September 12, Sujit Singh met Zeeshan on the orders of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's Canada-based brother Anmol.

In Ludhiana, Sujit handed over some money to Zeeshan and put him in touch with another accused, Nitin Sapre. After the meeting, Sujeet stayed in Ludhiana, while Zeeshan went to Kaithal and kept in touch through Jenga app. The messages received on the app are still being investigated by the Crime Branch. The investigation also revealed that Sujeet was in regular touch with another absconding accused Shubham Lonkar.

According to the investigation, sometime between June 24 and July, Lonkar met accused Rupesh in Pune, in which Zeeshan participated online. These meetings took place when Rupesh and his two associates were assigned the responsibility of killing Siddiqui. After this meeting, Rupesh contacts the gang providing weapons and agrees to take the contract from Sapre to kill Siddiqui; They also conducted reconnaissance of Siddiqui's house and office.

On Monday, the five accused were produced in the Fort Court, where they were given one day's police custody. Those produced in the court included Amit Kumar, Sujit Singh, Rupesh Mohol, Karan Salve and Shivam Kohar. They will be presented in the court again on Tuesday.