Image showing handcuffs. For representational purposes.
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Mumbai: The police on Wednesday managed to arrest the main accused in the sensational kidnapping and murder of a Sarpanch in Beed district.
The Maha Yuti government has received a lot of flak for this crime. The accused caught by the police is an NCP worker.
Massejeog village Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh’s dead body was found on 9 December.
Deshmukh was allegedly opposing an attempt to extort Rs 2 crore from a windmill company in the area.
Massejeog village is located in the Kaij tehsil of the Beed district.
The accused was identified as Vishnu Chate.
The kidnapping and murder of a sarpanch, caused unrest in the Maratha community in Beed.
After the incident, Ajit Pawar-led NCP expelled Chate.
It may be mentioned that BJP MLA from the Ashti constituency, Suresh Dhas, has written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis demanding the formation of a special investigation team (SIT) to find out the mastermind behind the kidnapping and murder.
Beed NCP (SP) MP Bajrang Sonawane met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe.
Beed’s Additional Superintendent of Police Sachin Pandkar said that the accused was nabbed on the Beed-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Highway as he attempted to flee the district.
The total arrests in the case now stands at four while three are still absconding.
In another extortion case lodged by the local windmill company, among the accused was one Walmiki Karad - who is said to be close to NCP Minister Dhananjay Munde - besides Chate and some other associates.
The killing of the village headman snowballed into a caste issue as the victim was a Maratha while the prime accused belongs to OBC-Vanjari community – both at loggerheads over the ongoing reservation agitation.