Baba Siddique murder: Anmol Bishnoi main conspirator, police tell court

The police sought custody of the eight on the grounds that they want to further probe how Bishnoi, who was last month detained in the US, communicated with the accused through an app during the planning of the conspiracy and how the money to the tune of Rs 4.5 lakh was distributed among some of the accused and the source of the money.

The police told the court that they want to interrogate the accused involved in procuring weapons, conducting recce, arranging logistics including stay of the shooters and other crucial parts of the conspiracy.

The police also claimed that the accused had destroyed the phones on which Bishnoi had contacted them and wanted to trace them.

Gautam’s lawyer Ajinkya Mirkal submitted that since the accused were in custody of the police for over a month, there were no new grounds brought by the police to seek their custody again. Other lawyers for the accused including Roopesh Jaiswal and Dilip Shukla also told the court that the police custody of the accused is not necessary. The police sought custody of the accused for 10 days.

Special Judge A M Patil sent the eight to police custody till December 7 and the rest 18 to judicial custody for two weeks.