Beed sarpanch murder: Three more held; Sule, Jarange raise questions

While Sudarshan and Sudhir Sangle were named in the FIR, police said Sonawane’s name came up during the probe. Sonawane, a resident of Massajog village of the sarpanch Deshmukh is accused of assisting the accused by tracking the movement of Deshmukh on December 9 and providing information to the accused.

“A special team was formed to trace the accused. During the probe, police conducted an inquiry with a doctor and received information about the accused,” a police officer said.

The killing of Deshmukh, 45, sarpanch of Massajog village in Kaiz tehsil rocked the winter session of the Assembly with Opposition leaders demanding that the accused be arrested even as fingers were pointed at the involvement of Walmik Karad, former NCP corporator and an aide of minister Dhananjay Munde.

Two days after the murder, Karad was named in an FIR for allegedly attempting to extort `2 crore from a windmill company in Beed. Deshmukh’s family claimed he was killed as he had opposed extortion attempts by local strongmen with links to NCP. Earlier this week, Karad surrendered at the CID headquarters in Pune.

So far, seven persons have been arrested including Sonawane while one Krishna Andhale is yet to be arrested.  All the three arrested were produced in the Kaiz court in Beed, which sent them to 15-day police custody.

Meanwhile, Baramati MP Supriya Sule and Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil questioned how and why all the accused were in Pune. “How come all the accused in Beed sarpanch murder case are being arrested from Pune? Will the police set the record straight on this count? This case is not confined only to Maharashtra now. Even in Delhi, it is being widely discussed,” Sule said.