Mumbai Cop Denies Defying MCOCA Court Directions in Baba Siddique Case
The investigating officer in the Baba Siddique murder case, Assistant Commissioner of Police Subhash Dhudhgaonkar, denied in a Mumbai court on Wednesday that he disobeyed directions to secure the custody of absconding accused Anmol Bishnoi. Dhudhgaonkar was responding to a show-cause notice issued on August 5 by Special Judge Satyanarayan Navander, who found that the officer's conduct prima facie reflected deliberate disregard of earlier court orders.
The show-cause notice followed an application filed by Baba Siddique’s widow, Shehzeen Zaiuddin Siddique, through advocates Trivankumar Karnani and Pradip Gharat. The application sought directions to secure Bishnoi's custody to ensure the effective conduct of the murder trial. Bishnoi is currently lodged in Tihar Jail in Delhi in connection with a National Investigation Agency case.
In his response, Dhudhgaonkar argued that a central government order dated December 5, 2025, prohibited Bishnoi’s removal from Tihar Jail for one year or until the conclusion of a Delhi case, whichever came earlier. He stated that this restriction prevented obtaining physical custody. He further maintained that producing Bishnoi through video-conferencing, as suggested by the court, could not legally substitute for his first physical presence before the court.
The Special MCOCA Court had previously observed in a July 10 order that the investigating agency had not made sincere efforts to secure Bishnoi. The court stated that even if physical custody could not be obtained, the police could explore producing him via video-conferencing or visiting Tihar Jail for interrogation so that the trial was not delayed.
However, the court noted in its August 5 order that the police instead obtained a production warrant and moved the Patiala House court in Delhi seeking Bishnoi's physical production. The Delhi court rejected that request, relying on the same central government restraint order.
The MCOCA court criticized Dhudhgaonkar’s compliance report for remaining silent on any attempts to secure Bishnoi through video-conferencing or other legally permissible modes indicated in its earlier directions.
