Bail should not be granted to accused in Santosh Deshmukh murder case, says brother

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The accused in the cases related to the murder of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh should not be granted bail even after they are remanded in judicial custody, his brother said on Wednesday.

Dhananjay, the murder victim's brother, was speaking to reporters after a court at Beed in Maharashtra remanded Walmik Karad, a close associate of minister and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, in judicial custody after Karad's police custody in a related extortion case ended.

"The accused should not get bail as they have created an atmosphere of terror," he said.

"Even though there are orders (from the state government) that no one should be spared, we can see in the video that went viral yesterday that (police) officers are meeting the accused at a hotel. If they all connive and evidence is destroyed, what message will go out in society?" Dhananjay added.

Vaishnavi, Santosh Deshmukh's minor daughter, also referred to the video which purportedly showed Karad and co-accused Sudarshan Ghule and Vishnu Chate with a police official who has been now suspended.

"If police and the accused are coming together and we see them in a video, whom should we go to for justice," she asked, talking to the media.

Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district of central Maharashtra, was abducted, tortured and murdered on December 9. Preliminary investigation indicated that Deshmukh had tried to resist an extortion attempt targeting an energy company operating a windmill project in the area.

Karad, an associate of Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, was arrested in the extortion case on December 31, 2024.

Subsequently, the SIT of Maharashtra police claimed that Karad was in contact with the killers when the crime was executed, and sought his fresh custody from the special court for the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).