In a major breakthrough for the Mumbai Police in the Baba Siddique case, the 16th accused was arrested in Pune on Wednesday. The arrested accused has been identified as Gaurav Vilas Apune. He is a resident Karvenagar locality of Pune City.
"In the Nirmal Nagar firing case (DCB CID Cr. No. 86/2024), a person named Gaurav Vilas Apune, aged 23, a resident of Karve Nagar, Pune, has been apprehended in Pune and formally arrested, as his involvement in the case has been established.," the Mumbai Police said.
"The investigation revealed that he had full knowledge of the intended target and was involved in the conspiracy of the attack, with the promise of substantial consideration from the absconding accused. The absconding accused also provided him with weapon-handling training," the police added.
A court here sent him in police remand till November 9. A team of the Mumbai crime branch took him in custody as the questioning of some of the previously arrested accused showed that Apune was involved in the conspiracy to attack Siddique, a former Maharashtra minister, a police official said, reported PTI.
He had been promised a substantial amount of money for his role in the conspiracy, the official said.
NCP leader Siddique was shot dead by three gunmen near his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique's office in Mumbai's Bandra area on October 12. Jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's brother Anmol Bishnoi was allegedly behind the murder.
(With inputs from PTI)