UP man who called Siddique son about plot to kill him, Salman held

MUMBAI: Police on Tuesday arrested a 20-year-old man from Noida for allegedly making a call and sending messages to NCP MLA Zeeshan Siddique ’s office helpline in Bandra (E) claiming that he had overheard people planning to kill him and actor Salman Khan . Police traced accused Mohammad Tayyab alias Gurfan Khan through his mobile number and brought him to Mumbai on transit remand. They confirmed that he has no links to any criminal organisation.

During interrogation, Tayyab, who does odd jobs including house painting, claimed he was in a financial crisis and assumed he would be rewarded for providing ‘death threat’ information to Siddique’s office. Siddique’s staff received the call and messages on Oct 25 and immediately informed Mumbai Crime Branch as his father, Baba Siddique, was shot dead outside the office on Oct 12. The next morning, the staff filed a complaint at Nirmal Nagar police station.

Police said Tayyab got the office’s helpline number from Siddique’s Facebook page. “Tayyab said he has no steady income to support his wife and newborn girl, so he decided to contact Siddique and make a hoax call. He sent two WhatsApp messages to Siddique’s office helpline and later made a call and claimed he overheard some people talking outside his house about planning to kill the MLA and Salman. He thought by doing so, Siddique would give him money to share more details.”

(With inputs from Delhi)