Baba Siddique murder: Gujarat man held from Akola, 25th arrest in case
Mumbai (PTI): The Mumbai Crime Branch on Sunday arrested a Gujarat resident from Akola in Maharashtra in the Baba Siddique murder case, taking the number of people held in the sensational incident to 25, an official said.
Salmanbhai Iqbalbhai Vohra, a resident of Petlad in Gujarat's Anand district, was held from Balapur in Akola, some 565 kilometres from the metropolis, with the help of the police there, the Crime Branch official said.
The 66-year-old NCP leader was gunned down on October 12 near his MLA son Zeeshan Siddique's office in Bandra East's Nirmal Nagar area.
"Vohra had opened a bank account in May this year and had provided financial support to Nareshkumar Singh, brother of arrested accused Gurmail Singh, Rupesh Mohol and Harishkumar. He has also helped others connected to the crime," the official said.
Gurmail Singh from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh resident Dharmaraj Kashyap were held from the spot immediately after the murder.
The police recently got a major breakthrough in the case when it arrested alleged main shooter Shivkumar Gautam from Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh. Gautam, who was on the run since October 12, was held while trying to flee to Nepal, as per police.
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Calling political contest ‘vote jihad’ wrong, Hindu society must counter it: Ram temple treasurer
Pune (PTI): Swami Govinddev Giri, the treasurer of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, said on Sunday that it was wrong to describe a political fight as “vote jihad”, asserting that the Hindu society must counter it.
His comments come amid Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s attacks on “vote jihad” and calls to respond to it with ‘dharma-yudh’.
Speaking to reporters here, the Hindu seer said directions about whom to vote were earlier discretely issued from religious places by distributing pamphlets but slogans like ‘vote jihad’ are now being openly given.
The religious leader said 'jihad' is equivalent to ‘dharma-yudh’.
“Calling a fight between two political parties 'yudh' is not right. But since ‘vote jihad’ is being openly advocated, it must be countered by the Hindu society without hesitation,” he said.
Voting is the right and responsibility of good citizens, said the religious leader from Ayodhya Ram temple.
“Being a true Hindu is pro-humanity, and treating everyone equally like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,” he said, adding, “We should tolerate injustice as well.”
Earlier, referring to a purported appeal by an Islamic scholar for “vote jihad” against the BJP-led Mahayuti government, Fadnavis had called for a “dharma-yudh of votes” to counter it.
During a few rallies in Pune ahead of the November 20 assembly polls, Fadnavis had played a video by Islamic scholar Sajjad Nomani and claimed that the slogan of “vote-Jihad” was raised.
It is being said that a person who votes for the BJP must be ostracised, Fadnavis claimed.
“If these people are trying to do vote jihad, if they are saying they will destabilise the government through vote jihad, then you will also have to do dharma-yudh of votes,” Fadnavis had said in a swipe at the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi.
