Mumbai: The Mumbai Crime Branch has made startling revelations in the chargesheet filed in the special MCOCA court regarding the high-profile murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique. According to the chargesheet, the ₹17 lakh contract killing was majorly funded from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, with the Bishnoi gang playing a crucial role.

Details Revealed

Crime Branch sources revealed that the money trail investigation pointed to Anmol Bishnoi and Shubham Lonkar, who orchestrated the funding through accounts opened at Karnataka Bank’s Anand branch in Gujarat under the name of accused Salman Vohra. Lonkar was tasked with handling deposits into this account, while sleeper cells of the Bishnoi gang in Uttar Pradesh transferred funds using Cash Deposit Machines (CDM) into different accounts linked to the conspirators.

Approximately 60-70% of the funding came from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and no evidence of foreign funding has been discovered so far. However, a portion of the funds reportedly reached the accused via hawala networks.

While the Maharashtra funding trail has been traced, investigators are still piecing together the financial connections from Uttar Pradesh.

The chargesheet also details the meticulous planning and surveillance carried out by the shooters. According to shooter Shiv Kumar Gautam, after two months of reconnaissance, frustration was building as they failed to find the right moment to attack. The final opportunity came on October 12, and the assassination would have been abandoned had it not materialized that day.

The chargesheet states that the shooters anticipated a police chase post-shooting. To evade capture, they purchased a pepper spray worth ₹13,000, which they kept handy. Evidence gathered by the Crime Branch supports the claim that Gautam fired at Baba Siddique, while Gurmel Singh used the spray on pursuing police officers. The planning, weapons procurement, and use of unconventional tactics like pepper spray demonstrate the sophisticated strategy behind the murder.

This chilling case continues to unfold as police pursue additional leads in the money trail and remaining accomplices linked to the Bishnoi gang.

Kolkata, Jan 9: The trial process in the ghastly rape and murder of a woman doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in August last year has almost come to the closing stage as the counsel of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will start presenting final arguments at a special court here from Thursday.

The process of final argument by the civic volunteer Sanjay Roy, the sole prime accused in the crime, was completed on Wednesday.

After the CBI counsel completes its final argument, the same will be presented by the counsel of the victim’s parents.

Sources said that after the final arguments by the counsels of both CBI and the victim’s parents are over, the counsel of the accused will get a chance to briefly counter the contents of the final argument by CBI’s counsel.

After the entire process is over, the judge of the special court will ask the counsels of the three parties to give their final statements, following which the trial process will be over. Thereafter the process of first the conviction and then the pronouncement of sentence will follow.

Since the entire trial process is held in-camera within the closed doors of the courtroom there is no scope to know or report on the details of the arguments and counter-arguments during the process.

Barring the parties concerned and their counsels, no other person, including the media, is allowed to be present in the courtroom during the entire trial process.

The CBI had so far submitted just one charge sheet in the case identifying Sanjay Roy as the “sole prime accused” in the case. During the course of interrogation, the CBI sleuths arrested the former and controversial principal of R.G. Kar Sandip Ghosh and the former SHO of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal on charges of tampering with the evidence. However, both were recently granted “default bail” by the special court because the CBI failed to file a supplementary charge sheet against them within 90 days from the date of their arrests.

Mumbai: A massive investment scam involving the foreign-based Torres Jewelry company allegedly duped around 1.25 lakh investors. New details have surfaced in the alleged scam. Three days after the alleged fraud surfaced, the police said that its head accountant had alerted cops, reported Media.

As per the media report, Abhishek Gupta had filed complaints with several authorities, including the Mumbai Police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He alleged fraudulent practices by the firm. The accountant further claimed that despite complaints, no action was taken by the authorities.

Gupta first submitted his complaints on December 30, the police said as reported by Media. He also reportedly tried to meet officials to report the alleged fraud. However, the main accused managed to flee before a raid by the Navi Mumbai Police at the jewellery chain’s Sanpada store in the city. Gupta approached the Shivaji Park Police Station and also sought police protection on Wednesday after he reportedly received threatening calls.

“Gupta also visited Byculla police station on Tuesday night to report the threat calls.,” a police officer told the media house. Meanwhile, the jewellery chain alleged that Gupta and its CEO, Tausif Riyaz, were involved in vandalising and robbing the stores.

The sophisticated fraud known as the Torres Jewellery scam was initiated in February 2024 and targeted a specific economic group. The jewellery chain operated six stores in and around Mumbai.

It allegedly floated schemes that promised incredible returns on jewellery purchases, generous rewards for referrals in a Ponzi scheme, and huge lucky draws that gave away expensive cell phones and cars in an attempt to instil confidence using what turned out to be fake jewellery.

The firm allegedly continued to increase the payout margins on its extravagant investment schemes from 6 per cent to 13 per cent in the run-up to the Christmas and New Year’s holiday in 2024.

The company reportedly even introduced new schemes to entice even more investments. Then it suddenly closed. Thus, an estimated 1.25 lakh investors have been defrauded by Torres. The majority of them have very low incomes.

The company is blaming few rogue employees who duped investors for large some of money. On Wednesday, it announced to resume its operations. The announcement in this regard was made by the firm on its ficial Youtube and Instagram channel.