2 minutes of readingBombayFebruary 1, 2026 05:59 pm IST
An hour after the shooting outside Bollywood director Rohit Shetty’s Juhu bungalow on Sunday, a message was posted on a Facebook page called ‘Shubham Lonkar Aarzoo Bishnoi’ claiming responsibility for the attack.
The name of PuneShubham Lonkar, 32, based in the country, raised eyebrows because he is an absconding accused in the Baba Siddique murder case and was also the person who claimed responsibility on social media after Siddique’s murder.
When the police launched an investigation into the Baba Siddique murder case, they found that Lonkar had been arrested by the Akola police in January 2024 in a case related to supply of arms.
Police found messages between him and gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, lodged in Sabarmati prison, and his brother Anmol, who was then believed to be out of the country. Lonkar was later released on bail and subsequently absconded.
During interrogation by the Akola police, Lonkar had said that he wanted to join the army. However, he failed the army recruitment test held in Jaisalmer in 2018-19.
Shubham Lonkar (pictured) failed the army recruitment test held in Jaisalmer in 2018-19. (File photo)
According to the police, he met a person in Jaisalmer named Bajra, who told him that if he wanted to work for the country, he could introduce him to someone who would help him. In this way, he met the Bishnoi gang.
Later, according to the police, Lonkar was also sent to Nepal and Azerbaijan, where he received weapons training from the Bishnoi gang. Lonkar then returned to his home base, Pune, where he ran a dairy with his brother and, receiving instructions that some shooters were needed, brainwashed the youths.
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One of the shooters in the Baba Siddique case, Shiv Kumar Gautam, had told the police during his interrogation that he was working at the shop near Lonkar’s dairy and would move with Lonkar’s gang.
Lonkar was heavily influenced by “religion” and “nationalism” and brainwashed Gautam to target Siddique claiming that it would be akin to a “patriotic act”, Gautam had told the police.
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