Jarange booked over ‘defamatory’ remarks against Dhananjay Munde, for creating ‘rift’ in society

Beed: Police in Maharashtra’s Beed district on Sunday booked Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange for allegedly making defamatory remarks against minister Dhananjay Munde and creating divide between two sections of society, an official said.

The FIR against Jarange was registered at Parli police station on a complaint of one Tukaram Aghav.

During a rally in Parbhani on Saturday, Jarange had targeted NCP minister Munde over the murder of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh. He had said that the Maratha community wouldn’t allow Munde to roam on the streets if Dehmukh’s family was harmed.

His remarks upset Munde’s supporters who demanded that Jarange be booked. They had also protested against Jarange outside the Shivajinagar Police station in Beed.

Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, was abducted, tortured and murdered on December 9, apparently because he tried to thwart an attempt to extort money from an energy firm operating a windmill project.

Police have so far arrested seven persons over his murder.

Walmik Karad, an associate of Munde, has been arrested in the extortion case.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) is probing into the matter.

The murder has acquired a caste conflict angle as Deshmukh was a Maratha, while most of the accused are Vanjari, a dominant community in the Beed region.