A Special Court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) framed charges against 27 accused in the Baba Siddique murder case here on Tuesday.
The charges have been brought against 27 accused, including the alleged shooter, in the murder of NCP leader and former minister Siddique, under provisions of the MCOCA, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bombay Police Act, and Arms Act.
Fifteen of the 27 were produced physically before the special court from the Mumbai Central Prison and Kalyan jail, while the remaining, lodged in Thane, were produced through videoconferencing. All of them pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Out of the 27 accused, only 22-year-old Akashdeep Karaj Singh has been granted bail by the Bombay High Court on Monday.
Siddique, 66, was shot dead on October 12, 2024, while leaving the office of his son, former MLA Zeeshan, in Bandra (East), by three assailants. The Mumbai police arrested 27 people in connection with the case, while naming gangster Anmol Bishnoi, who was brought to India from the US in November 2025, as a wanted accused in the case.
The police had claimed that the shooting was carried out on the instructions of Bishnoi for Siddique’s close association with actor Salman Khan and to establish supremacy of the gang as an organised crime syndicate for pecuniary benefits.
During the proceedings, the pleas of all the accused were recorded, with each pleading “not guilty”.
Special Public Prosecutor Mahesh Mule appeared on behalf of the State of Maharashtra, while senior advocates Pradip Gharat and Trivankumar Karnani represented the intervener.
Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, has been listed as a wanted accused in the police charge sheet. According to the prosecution, Anmol Bishnoi allegedly hatched a conspiracy to kill Baba Siddique with the intention of instilling fear and asserting dominance over the crime syndicate.
Earlier on Monday, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Akashdeep Karaj Singh, making him the first person to receive bail in the high-profile case.
A Bombay High Court bench led by Justice Neela Gokhale directed Singh, who is a resident of Punjab, not to leave Mumbai until the trial in the case is completed.
Singh was arrested in November 2024. In his bail application, he claimed that he had been falsely implicated and that the allegations against him were vague and without substance.
Singh’s lawyer argued that he had only been charged with being a member of an organised crime syndicate and that no specific role in the murder had been attributed to him. His lawyer also told the Bombay High Court that the trial is unlikely to begin in the near future and that continued detention without trial would violate his fundamental rights.