Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique was shot dead by three assailants in Mumbai on Saturday.

“Mumbai police chief told me that two people have been arrested. One is from UP and the other is from Haryana. The third attacker is escaping but police are trying to nab him,” Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told HT.

Initial reports said that three people shot Baba Siddique outside his son Zeeshan’s office in Bandra East. He was rushed to Lilawati Hospital in Mumbai where he succumbed to his injuries.

“Two or three shots were fired. Further investigation is underway as teams have rushed to the area,” a police official told PTI.

In February this year, Siddique had ended his five-decade association with the Congress and joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

“I joined the Indian National Congress Party as a young teenager and it was a momentous journey that lasted 48 years. “Today I am resigning from the principal membership of the Indian National Congress Party @INCIndia with immediate effect,” he had written in an X post.

Who is Baba Siddique?

Siddique was a three-term MLA from Mumbai’s Bandra West constituency. He lost the seat to Ashish Shelar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 general elections.

Baba Siddique was Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies, Labor, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Consumer Protection in the former NCP government, which was undivided by Congress, in early 2000.