Deshmukh was killed as he came in way of extortion; Karad was in contact with killers: SIT

Mumbai: Santosh Deshmukh was killed because he was thought to be an obstacle in a plan to extort Rs 2 crore from an energy firm, and Walmik Karad was in contact with his killers when the crime was executed, a Special Investigation Team of Maharashtra Police told a court at Beed on Wednesday.

The special court for Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) at Beed subsequently remanded Karad, an associate of NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde, in the SIT's custody for seven days.

While Karad was produced in the court amid tight security, his supporters called for a bandh in some places in Beed district and sought his release.

Earlier held in the extortion case, he was charged under the stringent MCOCA on Tuesday, after which the SIT, which is probing the Deshmukh murder case, sought his fresh custody.

Karad was in contact with the other accused during the sequence of events leading to Deshmukh's murder, said the remand application submitted by the SIT in the court.

This was established from the call detail records, it said.

On December 9, Sudarshan Ghule and his aides allegedly abducted and murdered Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village. Before and after the crime, Ghule, Vishnu Chate and Walmik Karad had called each other, said the SIT.

Karad had called Avaada company's representative Shivaji Thopte to his Parali office earlier and allegedly demanded Rs 2 crore. If the company did not pay, they will shut down its windmill projects in Beed, he had allegedly threatened, as per the SIT.

On November 29, Karad called Sunil Shinde, another company official, from Vishnu Chate's mobile phone and threatened to stop the work and asked him to do whatever Sudarshan Ghule was asking him to do, the SIT claimed.

On December 6, Ghule and others beat up Thopte as well as the company's security guard at its local office, it alleged.

Santosh Deshmukh and other locals reached the spot and sought to stop this. The accused thought that Deshmukh was coming in the way of their attempt to extort money from Avaada, and hence he was killed, said the remand plea.

Protests by Karad's supporters, meanwhile, continued in Beed for the second day even though prohibitory orders are in place in the district till January 28.

Some of them climbed a mobile phone tower at Pangri village in Parali area, demanding that "fake" cases registered against him should be withdrawn, a police official said.

A group of women also staged a sit-in protest in the village.

Following the bandh call given by Karad's supporters in Parali area, 80 per cent establishments were shut in Shirsala and 30 per cent were closed in Peth Beed area, the official said.

Parali is the assembly constituency of Dhananjay Munde.

Additional police force has been called to Beed, including a company of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and Riot Control Police from Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Dharshiv, the official said.