NEW DELHI: A senior Indian politician was shot dead in Mumbai city on Saturday night in a shocking murder.

Three assailants shot at Ziauddin Siddique, a former Maharashtra state minister popularly known as Baba Siddique, outside his lawmaker son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in the Bandra area, local media reported.

The murder has sent shockwaves across the city known as India’s financial capital and filmmaking hub.

Two murder suspects are in police custody.

Siddique, 66, was a three-time state lawmaker and a veteran of Maharashtra politics.

He quit the Indian National Congress party in February this year to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.

The murder comes as Maharashtra, one of India’s politically most significant states, prepares to hold its assembly election later this year.