Siddiqui's murder is being investigated as a contract killing, business rivalry for Political News

Baba Siddique was shot dead by three men just outside the office of his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique in Kher Nagar in Mumbai's Bandra district.

Medical services reported that he was taken to the emergency department of Lilavati Hospital at 9:30 a.m. with no pulse, no heart activity, no blood pressure and with a history of a gunshot wound to the chest.

Siddiqui was bleeding profusely and resuscitation was started immediately. He was transferred to the ICU, where further efforts were made to resuscitate him. Despite all resuscitation efforts, doctors failed to revive him and he was pronounced dead at 11:27 p.m. on Saturday, it said.

After the incident, a forensic team visited the crime scene and collected samples, and police are analyzing CCTV footage from nearby places to get more information about the attack, a police official said.

He said the attackers fired four to five rounds from a 9.9 mm pistol that police recovered.

During investigation, police found that the attackers fired at Siddique when people started shooting crackers during the Durga Bisarjan procession, a police official said.

According to police, they gained an advantage because most people did not hear the shots.

The case has been handed over to the Crime Branch for further investigation and the police are examining it from various angles, including contract killings, business enmity and threats to Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects, the official said.

Based on preliminary information, police said that two attackers hailing from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have been arrested and another suspect is absconding.

Baba Siddique represented the Bandra (West) seat in the Legislative Assembly thrice. Siddiqui, a prominent Muslim leader in Mumbai, was also known to have had associations with several Bollywood stars.

In a condolence message at the 10th headquarters, Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar described the attack as highly unfortunate and reprehensible.

“I was shocked when I found out he died in this accident,” Power said, adding that he lost a good friend and colleague.

“We have lost a leader who fought for the minority community and was a champion of secularism,” he said, adding that the attack would be thoroughly investigated.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told reporters after the incident that Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar told him that two accused in the shooting had been detained.

One of them is from Uttar Pradesh, the other from Haryana and the third accused fled the spot, he said.

“This event is deeply saddening,” Shinde said.

“We have instructed the police that under no circumstances should anyone take the law into their own hands. We cannot allow gang warfare to break out in our city again,” he said.

The Prime Minister said strict action would be taken against all those involved in the Siddiqui attack.

“The police are responsible for maintaining law and order in Mumbai. They are assembling teams to arrest the third suspect and strict action will be taken against all three people involved in the attack,” he said.

Shinde assured citizens that the government was committed to ensuring security and peace in Mumbai.

Siddique's murder is the first high-profile political assassination in Mumbai in three decades, in shocking, vote-centric Maharashtra.

Siddique, a Congressman since his student days, left the old party and joined Ajit Pawar's NCP in February this year.

The former minister had category Y security.

In the early 1990s, Ramdas Nayak and Premkumar Sharma, sitting BJP MLAs from Bandra and Khetwadi respectively, were shot dead.

Shiv Sena MLAs Vithal Chavan and Ramesh More were also shot dead in Mumbai in the 1990s.