Mumbai, Oct 21 A special court on Wednesday directed the Mumbai Police to specify the steps taken to secure custody of extradited gangster Anmol Bishnoi, an accused in the NCP leader Baba Siddique murder case, by the next hearing on October 28.
The court’s direction comes after the defence alleged that the prosecution was deliberately delaying the proceedings and failing to comply with previous orders of the court.
Earlier, Special MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime) Act court judge Mahesh Jadhav on July 10 ordered the police to initiate all legally permissible steps to secure the presence of Anmol Bishnoi.
The court had passed the order on a plea by Siddique’s family, seeking appropriate directions for the prosecution to procure Bishnoi’s custody.
On August 5, the special court issued a show-cause notice questioning why action should not be taken against the investigating officer (IO) for allegedly failing to produce Bishnoi via video link as suggested in the July 10 order.
During the proceedings on Wednesday, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Mahesh Mule informed the court that the IO was absent and that he himself was unwell.
Mule requested additional time, submitting that he would apprise the court at the next hearing regarding the measures taken by the prosecution to secure Bishnoi’s custody.
However, advocate Pradip Gharat and Trivankumar Karnani, representing Siddique’s family, opposed the adjournment request.
They claimed that the prosecution was intentionally delaying the proceedings and had failed to comply with previous court orders.
Considering the SPP’s submissions, the court granted time until the next date (October 28) to make appropriate submissions.
The special court strictly directed the prosecution to produce a record of the steps taken to secure the accused’s presence.
Earlier, responding to a show-cause notice, the prosecution had said that producing the accused via video conferencing is legally impermissible in a first-time arrest. It had also cited a jurisdictional hurdle in securing his custody.
Anmol Bishnoi, who was previously extradited and arrested by the NIA, is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.
The Central government passed an order on December 5, 2025, under Section 303(1) of the BNSS and Section 43-D(3) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), expressly restricting his movement outside Tihar Jail and the jurisdiction of Delhi for one year or until the completion of his trial, the police’s earlier response said.
Siddique (66), a former Maharashtra minister, was shot dead by three assailants outside his son Zeeshan’s office in Mumbai’s Bandra (East) area on the night of October 12, 2024.
Anmol, the younger brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, has been named as a wanted accused in the Baba Siddique murder case.
(PTI News)
