A family member of Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh from the Bed region of Maharashtra was murdered and protested in Mumbai to demand justice for him. File | Image source: PTI
A few months after the murder of Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed a 1,800-page fee form at the Beed District Court in Maharashtra on Thursday (27 February 2025).
One charge was filed in three cases: a ransom case, in which a closed aid was booked by Food Minister Dhananjay Munde; a raid on December 6, 2024 against windmill company staff registration; and the murder of Deshmukh.
Deshmukh, Sarpanch in Massajog village in Bed area of Maharashtra, was murdered on December 9, 2024. His murder was allegedly linked to the ransom case, where the defendant tried to extort money from a windmill company in the area. In all these cases, there were eight people in total, including Walmik Karad. However, Krishna Andhale, who was accused of the ninth, is still absconding. According to police officials, the supplementary charge form will be filed with him after he is arrested.
Other accounts on the charge table are – Sudarshan Ghule, Vishnu Chat, Jayram Chat, Mahesh Kedar, Sudhir Sangle, Prateek Ghule, Siddhartha Sonawane and Mr. Karad.
The Deshmukh murder also brought Mr Mont to a slam, with opposition leaders and members of the ruling coalition demanding his resignation. The fee sheet also caught the eyebrows as it was filed the day after the appointment of attorney Ujjwal Nikam was appointed as prosecutor.
Beed MP and NCP (SP) leader Bajrang Sonawane questioned the time for submitting the fee. “I was shocked to see the police rushing to file the charges, why the police were so in a hurry,” he said.
publishing – February 28, 2025 at 03:20 am
