Zeeshan Akhtar, the fourth suspect in Baba Siddiqui’s murder, is an associate of infamous gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. A resident of Jalandhar, Punjab, Zeeshan was assigned the task of eliminating Baba Siddiqui by Bishnoi while both were incarcerated in Patiala jail six months ago. Following their release, Zeeshan enlisted three shooters and meticulously planned the attack over four months. Gurmel, an old friend of Zeeshan from Kaithal, Haryana, was involved in the incident.
Zeeshan was previously arrested in 2022 for murder and extortion, during which he operated WhatsApp using a foreign number. With a maximum education up to the 10th grade, Zeeshan comes from a family of tile contractors, including his father, Muhammad Jameel. In 2021, close associate Vikram Brar demanded a ransom from Jalandhar’s drug mafia figure Rano. When Rano refused to comply, Brar dispatched Zeeshan and others to attack Rano’s residence on September 3, 2021, resulting in Zeeshan’s arrest.
At just 21 years old, Zeeshan has been linked to over half a dozen serious crimes, including murder, robbery, and extortion. According to the Jalandhar police, Zeeshan’s criminal path began after an incident in which a young man working in his father’s shop stole a phone and sold it. When his father reprimanded him, Zeeshan retaliated by attacking his father’s assailant, tearing off his beard.
Seeking revenge for his father’s humiliation, Zeeshan immersed himself in a life of crime starting in 2019. During this period, he connected with Vikram Brar through social media and committed his first murder in Tarn Taran at Brar’s instigation. Zeeshan studied Arabic, Persian, and Urdu in a madrasa in Maharashtra for one and a half years before continuing his education in a madrasa in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh. After another year and a half, he returned home, entered school, and eventually worked alongside his father in the tile business.
