Mumbai, Dec 26 (PTI) The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Maharashtra Police has taken over the investigation of two cases related to the brutal murder of Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, officials said on Thursday.
Amid the Opposition’s demand that Dhananjay Munde, whose associate Walmik Karad has faced allegations following the murder in Beed district, be dropped from the cabinet, the NCP minister met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here during the day.
“While CID is probing the murder, two related matters — a case of Rs 2 crore extortion in which Walmik Karad is wanted along with Vishnu Chate and Sudarshan Ghule, and another case of beating up of a security guard — also have been transferred to the CID,” an official said.
The CID has formed a special investigation team headed by a deputy inspector general-rank officer to probe these cases. Additional Director General (CID) Prashant Burde visited Beed on Thursday, the official added.
Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Kej tehsil, was abducted and murdered on December 9.
The CID has arrested Jairam Chate, Mahesh Kedar and Pratik Ghule in the murder case. Their remand has been extended till January 6, the police official said.
The probe agency will also seek custody of Vishnu Chate, arrested in the extortion case and remanded by a court in Beed Police’s custody till December 27, he added.
The SIT is in Kej tehsil since Thursday morning as part of the investigation, the official said.
Vishnu Chate had allegedly demanded Rs 2 crore from an energy company that had installed a windmill in the district, and threatened to stop its operations if the demand was not met.
Deshmukh tried to intervene and stop the extortion, hence he was abducted from his car on December 9 and tortured to death, as per the preliminary investigation. A First Information Report has been registered against seven persons for the murder.
Opposition leaders had claimed in the state legislature at Nagpur last week that Karad was the alleged mastermind of the murder, but he was not being arrested even though he was in Nagpur during the session.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dhananjay Munde, a politician from Beed, met Fadnavis on Thursday. Munde told reporters later that a meeting of his department coincided with the chief minister’s meeting at the Sahyadri guest house in Mumbai. “So we met,” the NCP leader added.
He has been demanding from day one that the killers of Santosh Deshmukh be “hanged to death” and action must be taken even if any of them are close to him, Munde said.
“Still, if I am being targeted, one can make out what kind of politics is this….what can be the objective of the media trial against me…to finish me off politically,” he added.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, meanwhile, accused CM Fadnavis — who holds the home portfolio — of protecting “Beed’s Naxals”.
“’Urban Naxals’ is a favourite word of Fadnavis. When will you act against ‘Beed’s Naxals’,” he asked, talking to reporters.
An all-party protest march has been planned on December 29 to demand action against the “real killers” of Deshmukh, Raut informed.
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