Uddhav Thackeray to visit families of murdered Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, and Somnath Suryavanshi

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray will meet the family of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, whose murder has sparked a huge political row, in the first week of January.

Thackeray will also meet the kin of Dalit man Somnath Suryavanshi who allegedly died in judicial custody after his arrest in connection with violence over the desecration of a replica of the Constitution in Parbhani.

"The Sena (UBT) president will visit Parbhani and Beed to meet the families of Somanth Suryavanshi and Santosh Deshmukh, respectively," Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said on Saturday.

NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar met the families of Suryavanshi and Deshmukh last week. The leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, also met Suryavanshi's family in Parbhani.

Police have so far arrested four persons, including former tehsil chief of Ajit Pawar-headed NCP Vishnu Chate, in connection with the sarpanch Deshmukh's murder.

Police are on the lookout for three others who have been named as wanted accused for kidnapping Deshmukh and brutally killing him on December 9.

Preliminary investigation by police shows that Deshmukh's murder was a fallout of his bid to oppose extortion from a windmill company in Beed.

Following Deshmukh's murder, there were protests across Beed, especially after photographs of his body with injury marks were shared widely on social media.

Parbhani city in central Maharashtra witnessed violence after a glass-enclosed replica of the Constitution near Dr B R Ambedkar's statue outside the railway station was vandalised on the evening of December 10.

Suryavanshi (35), who was lodged in the Parbhani district central jail after his arrest, died on December 15 at a state-run hospital after complaining of chest pain and uneasiness.

Rahul Gandhi alleged that Suryavanshi was killed because he was a Dalit who was trying to protect the Constitution.