MUMBAI: Legal constraints, Mumbai police say, are why they could not take gangster Anmol Bishnoi into physical custody in the Baba Siddique murder case. A special MCOCA court's findings leave a sharper question hanging: did investigators exhaust every legal avenue, or only try the route they knew was blocked?
Anmol, brother of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, is also wanted in the firing outside actor Salman Khan's Bandra home. Investigators have named him the alleged mastermind in Siddique's murder.
The court had directed the police to explore video-conferencing to secure his presence. Instead, police sought his physical production from Tihar Jail, a request rejected because a central government order restricted his removal.
The special MCOCA court issued a show-cause notice to investigating officer ACP Subhash Dhudhgaonkar, saying his conduct prima facie reflected 'deliberate disregard' of its directions.
Its August 5 order noted that despite the July 10 directions, the officer had merely sought Anmol's physical production before a Delhi court, turned down because of the removal restriction. The compliance report, the court said, was 'conspicuously silent' on attempts to secure him through video-conferencing or any other legally permissible mode.
Dhudhgaonkar argued a proper investigation was impossible without physical custody. The court called the explanation 'wholly unsatisfactory' and said he had 'merely repeated the exercise, which was bound to fail in view of the existing restraint order.'
'In the present case, prima facie, the conduct of the Investigating Officer reflects deliberate disregard of the directions contained in the order dated July 10, 2026,' the judge observed.
In his August 12 reply, Dhudhgaonkar denied deliberate disobedience, saying physical custody was essential to investigate the alleged conspiracy, identify participants, trace financiers and weapons and verify digital communications.
Advocate Trivankumar Karnani, appearing for Siddique's widow Shehzeen Siddique, said, 'During arguments, we will explain how the Mumbai police ought to have secured Anmol's custody through video-conferencing, sought permission from the competent court to interrogate him in jail, and produced him before the special MCOCA court via video-conferencing, as directed in its July 10 order.'
Shehzeen has filed a plea seeking further action against the officer for allegedly misleading the court. The court is expected to hear arguments on it on Wednesday (October 21).