'Smaller fish' could be killed to save 'big fish': Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Beed sarpanch murder

Nagpur: Days after a Maharashtra minister's associate was arrested in an extortion case linked to the murder of a sarpanch in Beed, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar claimed "smaller fish" could be killed in an encounter to save the "big fish".

Wadettiwar, however, did not elaborate on his remarks.

Speaking to reporters in Nagpur on Thursday, the opposition party leader also targeted the Beed administration and asked whether beds were being taken to a police station for Walmik Karad, the close associate of Maharashtra NCP minister Dhananjay Munde.

Karad, wanted in an extortion case linked to the brutal murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in Beed district, surrendered before the police in Pune on Tuesday.

He was taken to a court at Kej in Beed district the same day and remanded in 14-day police custody.

Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed, was abducted and brutally killed on December 9, allegedly for opposing an extortion bid by some persons who had demanded money from a windmill company.

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday formed a 10-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Deshmukh's murder.

To a query on Karad, Wadettiwar, without naming anyone, claimed, "According to reliable sources, smaller fish could be killed in an encounter to save the big fish." The opposition party leader also sought to know for whom beds were being taken to a police station in Beed.

"Were those for Walmik Karad, who is in police custody?" he asked and demanded an inquiry into it.

Asked about the Maharashtra cabinet meeting scheduled on Thursday, Wadettiwar said," The people of the state are looking forward to fulfilment of assurances given by the ruling Mahayuti during the elections."

The government should decide in the cabinet meeting whether it will raise the assistance under the Ladki Bahin scheme for women to Rs 2,100, from the existing Rs 1,500, and honour those who voted for it in large numbers, he said.

"We are also looking at whether the government will fulfil its assurance of complete waiver of farmers' loans," the Congress leader said.

The Ladki Bahin scheme, started during the previous Mahayuti government, is widely credited to have contributed to the BJP-led coalition's big win in the state assembly polls held in November 2024.

Last month, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assured his government will continue the Ladki Bahin Yojana and fulfil Mahayuti’s pre-poll promise of hiking the monthly stipend under the scheme to Rs 2,100 from Rs 1,500 now to eligible women.