In viral video, key accused in Baba case claims Pak gangster helped him flee

The Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police has started an investigation into a video of Zeeshan Akhtar, a prime accused in the murder of Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique, in which he claimed to have secured asylum in a foreign country with the help of Pakistani gangster Shehzad Bhatti.

- Manish Kumar Pathak

MUMBAI:

Akhtar, an alleged key conspirator in the Siddique murder, claimed in the video that Bhatti had helped him escape from India after the Mumbai Police launched a manhunt for him. He said that Bhatti, whom he called his "elder brother" in the video, had helped him secure asylum in an unknown country, outside Asia. Police confirmed that the person seen in the video, which went viral online, is indeed Zeeshan Akhtar but were investigating other details.

Siddique was shot dead on a busy street in Bandra East on October 12 last year. There were three shooters present but it was Shiv Kumar Gautam, henchman of gangster Anmol Bishnoi, brother of incarcerated gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who had fired the shots that killed Siddique.