‘Why should I resign if I am not involved?’: Dhananjay Munde on Beed sarpanch murder

The Opposition has been demanding Munde’s resignation from the ministerial post since the murder. Reacting to the opposition’s demand and accusations, Munde on Thursday vehemently denied his involvement and questioned why should he resign when he was not involved in the case.

“What is the reason that I should resign? There must be some reason…I am neither an accused in any of these cases, nor do I have any connection with them. So why are they asking for the resignation?” said Munde.

The opposition has been alleging that if Munde remains a minister, pressure may fall on officials investigating the murder case, hence he should not be a part of the cabinet.

Reacting to this, Munde said the probe has been handed over to the CID. “There will also be a judicial probe into the case so that there cannot be any influence on the investigation even if I  remain in the cabinet. Also, I am the minister from the district so it will be appropriate if I remain the guardian minister of the district,” explained Munde.

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  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 — are on the run. Besides Karad, one Vishnu Chate has also been arrested in the extortion case.

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In order to arrest the three suspects on the run who are accused in the murder case, the Beed police on Thursday released photos and details of the trio, declaring them as wanted in the murder case and appealed to citizens to provide information about them. Police also said those who will provide information about the accused would be rewarded by the police and their identity will be kept confidential.