Why Mumbai police didn’t file chargesheet against Lawrence Bishnoi in Baba Siddique murder case

A senior officer told The Indian Express that in the Salman Khan firing case, they had a statement from an accused which confirmed that Lawrence Bishnoi had directly spoken to some of the accused on the phone from Sabarmati Central Jail.

“While Bishnoi called up on one mobile phone that was kept on speaker, another accused kept another mobile phone on speaker so that the two sides could speak without the calls being traced to them. It was based on this statement that we had mentioned Lawrence as an accused in the Salman Khan case,” the officer said.

“In the case of Baba Siddique, it was Anmol, the younger brother of Lawrence, who was in touch with the accused persons and we have found no link of Lawrence himself, hence while the Bishnoi gang has carried out the murder, we have not named Lawrence as an accused in the case,” the officer added.

The Mumbai police have not been able to get custody of Lawrence Bishnoi, who continues to be lodged at the Sabarmati Jail, as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sought that the gangster be kept in that prison for his security. NIA had filed a chargesheet against Lawrence Bishnoi earlier in a narcotics case.

Anmol Bishnoi is currently lodged at the Pottawattamie County Jail in Iowa after he was detained by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in November last year when he was trying to use a forged passport to travel.

Siddique was gunned down on October 12, 2024, in Bandra East outside his son Zeeshan Akhtar’s office. The police have arrested 26 people, including the main shooter, in connection with the case.