Baba Siddique murder: Cops zero in on big SRA project

After it emerged that the Crime Branch is looking into certain SRA projects in Bandra East following Zeeshan Siddiquersquos cryptic statement that his father died protecting the homes of the poor midday spoke to residents of Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar in Bandra East who demanded that the SRA should redevelop the project without delay However all of them sought homes in the same locality Siddique and his son were against the project and the latter had also forcibly stopped the survey in July 2024The Crime Branch has sought files related to Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar and the adjoining Bharat Nagar from the SRA in connection with Baba Siddiquersquos murder Sahebali Shaikh member Aman Shanti Sahakari Sanstha Grah Niyojit SocietyAround 5200 people live in Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar Since 20022003 many developers visited their area aiming to redevelop it but no progress has been made Residents stated that they need proper houses at the same location and the survey should be completed Zeeshan had claimed that the land was being surveyed illegally and the Kherwadi police registered an FIR against him for preventing a survey from being carried out in August Residents believe that his fatherrsquos killing is linked to this contentious issueResidents speaksMadhukar Chavan a member of Vakratunda Welfare Society at Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar said ldquoWe want houses in this very location We are not against the developer or the SRA We have been living here for more than 35 years We are ready to work with any developer who will give us flats here We want proper houses There have been many fights here over the survey Zeeshan too had come to here to help us in our fight against illegalities and we supported himrdquoResidents of the area who wish to be housed in the same localityJay Ram Rathod a member of Jay Durgamata Rahivashi Seva Sangh said ldquoBaba Siddique and Zeeshan were protecting us In March we had a meeting with them Now we have lost Baba Siddique who was god for us We believe our project is now in danger We dont know how or when it will be developed All we want is transparencyrdquoMadhav Chougule a member of Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar Rahivashi Sangh said ldquoWe need peace in the area Many people have come here to threaten us into supporting a particular builder We dont want strife We are only concerned about our homes Whichever builder takes up the project they should give us flats in the same location We had told Zeeshan this and he supported us We are certain that Zeeshan will support us till the SRA project is developed legallyrdquoLeft Jay Ram Rathod member Jay Durgamata Rahivashi Seva Sangh and Mohammad Irfan Yusuf Shaikh member of Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar Raju Nagar Rahivashi Seva SanghMohammad Irfan Yusuf Shaikh a member of Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar Raju Nagar Rahivashi Seva Sangh said ldquoA politician selected seven residents to represent locals in a bid to redevelop the SRA project We had no problem with this but demanded that they mention in writing that flats would be given to us at the same location and that the stamp duty and registration would be taken care of But they refused to give us a written agreement Later they forced us to comply and started an illegal surveyrdquoSahebali Shaikh a member of the Aman Shanti Sahakari Sanstha Grah Niyojit Society said ldquoThere are a total of 75 houses in our slum We demanded flats in this location itself Zeeshan is with us and we are sure he will always support us The FIR registered against Zeeshan is based on false allegations We have been treathened because we are against the illegal survey and illegal development of the area They politicians and builders are sending goons here to intimidate us We need justice We constructed houses in Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar in 1994 and have been staying here ever since We have the receipt of a census carried out in 2000 by the BMC and MhadardquoBablu Shaikh a member of the Manav Ekta Society said ldquoWe were against the survey because they were doing it illegally We have the receipt of the 2000 census but the SRA does not have all documents in its records Our 2001 election records are also missing from government records We suspect that SRA deleted our names from its records We donrsquot want money to purchase new homes and canrsquot afford to rent flats Nobody issupporting usrdquo5200No of people who live in Sant Dnyaneshwar NagarThe incident that led to Zeeshan Siddique being booked An official Rajan Bhargav Yevle the complainant in the case was appointed by the SRA to survey Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar for the project as the SRA had decided to redevelop it Gitanjali Shirke was the head of the project The process was carried out from July 22 to 30 and residents were also cooperating Yevle stated in the FIR On July 30 Siddique arrived at Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar with seven to eight party members and he instructed survey officer Chandrashekhar Ramakant Thakur and 10 other officials to stop the survey According to the FIR Zeeshan told to officer not to force residents to take part in the process Zeeshan also allegedly threatened them to stop the survey claiming it was being carried out against the wishes of the people On August 1 surveying resumed at 1030 am and the MLA arrived at the spot with a few party members again and stopped the work Shirke and Yevle met Zeeshan and requested him to cooperate with them At 330 pm surveying resumed but Zeeshan stopped it and his workers removed the markers from the doors of homes that had been visited by officialslsquoAccused wanted R1cr to kill BabarsquoDuring interrogation Ram Kanoujiya an accused disclosed that initially Shubham Lonkar had contracted him and Nitin Sapre to kill Baba Siddique An officer stated ldquoKanoujiya did not want to take on the contract which is why he demanded R1 crore for the job After hearing the amount Lonkar backed out rdquo Lonkar assumed that people from UP unaware of Siddiquersquos stature and influence would agree to the murder for a lower amount Shubham assigned the task to the UP module of Dharmaraj Kashyap Gurnail Singh and Shivkumar Gautamrdquo the officer said