Baba Siddique’s murder accused not a minor, bone test reveals

One of the accused in the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique, who had claimed in court to be a minor, has been found to be an adult through a bone ossification test. The test was conducted following an order from a Mumbai court, which remanded the accused, Dharmaraj Kashyap, along with others, to judicial custody until October 21.
Former Maharashtra minister and NCP Ajit Pawar faction leader Siddique was shot dead outside his office in Mumbai on Saturday night, and two shooters along with a co-conspirator were arrested on Sunday. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for the murder and the police stated they are investigating the link, also confirming it was a contract killing.
When the shooters, Dharmaraj Kashyap from Uttar Pradesh and Gurmail Baljit Singh from Haryana, were produced before the court, Kashyap claimed that he was 17-years-old.
When the accused’s counsel informed the court that Kashyap had claimed to be a minor, the prosecution objected, citing an Aadhaar card that showed his birth year as 2003, suggesting he was 21 years old. However, the name on the card was different, and the accused did not have a birth certificate or school-leaving certificate to verify his age.
The magistrate court then ordered a bone ossification test, which is used to estimate a person’s age by examining X-rays of certain bones in the body.
The Mumbai police have also arrested the third accused, a 28-year-old man from Pune who, along with his brother Shubham Lonkar, was part of the murder conspiracy. The third shooter present with Gurmail and Kashyap, Shiv Kumar alias Shiva Gautam, is on the run. The police have also identified another accused, Mohammad Zeeshan Akhtar, 21, who is allegedly the brain behind the murder.
During questioning, the shooters told the police that they belonged to the gang of notorious jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Later on Sunday, one of the gang’s alleged members posted a message on social media claiming responsibility for the murder, stating that the motive was the victim’s connection to Bollywood star Salman Khan, whom the group has been targeting for a long time.