Shooter learnt how to handle guns during celebratory gunfires at weddings in UP: Cops
The duo practised at a room they had rented in a Kurla chawl as they could not find any empty secluded spot in the city where they could fire rounds.
3 min read
The police suspect that this was the weapon used in the firing and have sent it for forensic testing to confirm the same. (File Photo)Shiv Kumar Gautam, who allegedly fired six rounds at Baba Siddique, learned to use a gun while participating in celebratory gunfire during wedding celebrations in UP, claimed the two accused arrested by Mumbai police, during their interrogation.
A senior police official said that the two accused Baljit Singh and Dharmraj Kashyap claimed that while Gautam was the main shooter, they were hired to be his backups, and practised loading and unloading firearms by watching youtube videos over the past one-month during their stay in Mumbai.
The duo practised at a room they had rented in a Kurla chawl as they could not find any empty secluded spot in the city where they could fire rounds. In the past, where the Bishoi gang was involved including in the Salman Khan firing case, they would arrange for shooters to practise firing at isolated spots before they could fire on the victims.
A crime branch officer said, “The main accused Gautam who we suspect as the one who fired on Siddique had told the other two accused that he was well versed with using firearms as he had done so on a couple of occasions while carrying out celebratory gunfires during weddings of his relatives in UP. The other two however had not handled a firearm earlier. After the firearms were delivered, the two were given basic training by Gautam and they used youtube videos to learn how to load and unload a pistol. During their stay at the Kurla chawl for nearly four weeks prior to the killings, they practised using the firearm at their residence.”
Meanwhile, the police on Tuesday arrested one more person identified as Harishkumar Nishad (26), who was the owner of the scrap shop where Gautam and another accused Kashyap, worked. The police said that the Pune-based Lonkar brothers who are allegedly part of the plot, had contacted Gautam and Kashyap through Nishad, their employer.
Lonkar had paid money to Nishad who then paid Rs 50,000 each to Kashyap and Gautam who came to Mumbai in September.
While Shubham Lonkar had been on Mumbai Police’s radar and had been questioned following the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s residence, he was last seen in Pune on September 24, after which police suspect he went into hiding.
The police have found that the accused sent each other messages using Snapchat as messages auto-delete on the platform. The police have also found that the conspiracy was hatched in July after which the Lonkar brothers and one Zeeshan Akhtar had been asked to arrange for shooters.
On Tuesday, the police also found a bag containing a firearm and an aadhar card nearly 200 metres from the place of the firing. The police suspect that this was the weapon used in the firing and have sent it for forensic testing to confirm the same.
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