Beed sarpanch murder case: CID files charge sheet

Representation pic

The Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday filed a charge sheet in the murder case of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh and two related cases. Deshmukh was abducted, tortured, and murdered allegedly for attempting to stop an extortion bid targeting an energy company in Beed. While seven individuals have been arrested for the crime, the primary accused, Krushna Andhale, remains at large.

"The CID filed a chargesheet in the Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case and two related cases. The charge sheet runs into more than 1,200 pages," a public prosecutor said. Three separate cases - the murder of a sarpanch, a bid to extort money from the Avaada company, and an assault on a security guard of the firm - were registered at the Kej police station in Beed.

The murder of Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village, on December 9 last year has also triggered a political firestorm in the state as NCP minister Dhananjay Munde's close aide Walmik Karad was arrested in connection with a related extortion case.

Munde is under fire from the opposition and some Mahayuti colleagues following the arrest of his close aide. However, the minister has maintained that he has no connection with the case. The police have also invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused in the murder case.

Beed MP and NCP (SP) leader Bajrang Sonawane, however, questioned the hurry in filing the charge sheet. "Why are the police in so much of a hurry to file the charge sheet? I am stunned to see all this...," he said.