Santosh Deshmukh (45), a sarpanch of Massajog in Kaiz tehsil, was abducted and murdered on December 9 and his family had alleged Karad’s involvement in the murder. (Express File)
The Maharashtra government Wednesday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the murder of a sarpanch in Beed district that has triggered political storm in the state.
The home department has issued a Government Resolution (GR) forming the ten-member SIT, which will be headed by the Deputy Inspector General of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), Maharashtra, Basavraj Teli.
The team will include Dy SP of CID Anil Gujar and others from the local crime branch in Beed.
The SIT was formed a day after former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator and an aide of Minister Dhananjay Munde, Walmik Karad, who has been in the eye of a storm since the sarpanch murder, surrendered at the CID headquarters in Pune.
Santosh Deshmukh (45), a sarpanch of Massajog in Kaiz tehsil, was abducted and murdered on December 9 and his family had alleged Karad’s involvement in the murder. Two days after the murder, Karad was named in an FIR for allegedly attempting to extort Rs 2 crore from a windmill company in Beed. Deshmukh’s family claimed that he was killed because he had opposed extortion attempts by local strongmen with links to the NCP.
The murder had rocked the state Assembly, with the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders staging protests and demanding his arrest. Karad was produced in the Beed court in the extortion case on Tuesday night and has been remanded to police custody till January 13.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, several villagers entered a lake in Massajog and stood waist-deep in the water as part of the “jal samadhi” agitation, demanding arrest of the three absconding accused in the murder case.
“Santosh Deshmukh should get justice. Even after 23 days (of murder), three accused in the case are still absconding. What is the police doing? The accused must be arrested immediately and hanged to death,” a villager said.
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The agitation was withdrawn after Beed Superintendent of Police Navneet Kanwat met the protesters and sought 10 days to nab the absconding accused in the murder case.
After Deshmukh’s murder, the Kej police had registered the case against seven persons based on the complaint of Shivraj Deshmukh, a relative of the deceased sarpanch.
Out of the seven accused, the police have so far arrested Pratik Ghule, Jayram Chate and Mahesh Kedar, while three others — Sudarshan Ghule, Sudhir Sangle and Krushna Andhale — absconding
Besides Karad, one Vishnu Chate has also been arrested in the extortion case.
Vallabh Ozarkar is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express' Mumbai bureau, recognized as an authoritative and deeply knowledgeable voice on the politics, governance, and infrastructure of Maharashtra. With more than nine years of experience in major news organizations, his reporting delivers high standards of Expertise and Trustworthiness.
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