The Mumbai Police have arrested a man from Delhi for trying to activate the old mobile number of late Maharashtra leader Baba Siddiqui using fake documents. The accused, Vivek Sabharwal, was caught in Burari, Delhi, on Sunday and brought to Mumbai for questioning. He had tried to get a new SIM card and transfer Siddiqui’s old number to it using fake documents like a fake Aadhaar card, PAN card, and fake business letterheads.

Police believe he planned to use the number for online fraud. Sabharwal already has two cases against him for cyber fraud and was out on bail in one of them. The number he targeted had been kept active by Siddiqui’s family as a remembrance. It was being used by Siddiqui’s daughter Arshia for her restaurant business and by his wife Shazia for their construction work.

The fraud came to light on June 24 when the telecom company received an email asking to activate the number, along with the fake documents. The email was also sent to Shazia Siddiqui, which made the family suspicious. They immediately informed the Mumbai Police, who registered a case and started investigating. The Mumbai Police team followed the clues and found Vivek Sabharwal in Burari, Delhi. They arrested him and brought him to Mumbai. After he was presented in court, the judge sent him to police custody for further questioning.

Baba Siddiqui was a well-known politician and three-time Congress MLA who joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in 2024. He was shot dead on October 12 last year outside the office of his son, MLA Zeeshan Siddiqui, in Mumbai. According to police, the killers had been watching Siddiqui’s movements for weeks before they shot him six times.

During the investigation into the murder, the main accused, Akashdeep Gill, told police that he used a labourer’s mobile hotspot to talk to the alleged mastermind Anmol Bishnoi and others. He did this to avoid being tracked by the police.