- Tuesday, March 04, 2025
The call for resignation intensified after gory photos and court chargesheet details related to the killing of Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh surfaced
By: India Weekly
MAHARASHTRA minister Dhananjay Munde on Tuesday (4) resigned from the state cabinet, days after his close aide Walmik Karad was named as the mastermind in the murder of a sarpanch in Beed district.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters at Vidhan Bhawan that he has forwarded the resignation of Munde, who belongs to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), to Governor C P Radhakrishnan.
The state food and civil supplies minister’s resignation followed a vociferous demand by the opposition for to remove him from the cabinet.
Fadnavis held a late-night meeting with deputy chief minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar on Monday, along with other senior NCP leaders, including Munde, to discuss the issue.
The Opposition demand for the NCP leader’s resignation intensified after gory photos and court chargesheet details related to the killing of Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh surfaced, revealing the brutalities committed before the murder.
Deshmukh was abducted, tortured and murdered on December 9 last year allegedly for attempting to stop an extortion bid targeting an energy company in the district.
The state police on February 27 filed a chargesheet at a court in Beed district in Deshmukh’s murder and two related cases.
Three separate cases – murder of sarpanch, bid to extort money from Avaada company and assault on security guard of the firm – have been registered at Kej police station in Beed.
The police have invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused in the cases.
Seven people have been arrested so far, while one is still at large.
Apart from Karad, the other arrested include Sudarshan Ghule, Vishnu Chate, Jairam Chate, Mahesh Kedar, Siddhartha Sonawane, Sudhir Sangale and Prateek Ghule.
Krishna Andhale is a wanted accused in the case.
Delayed action
State minister Pankaja Munde on Tuesday (4) said her cousin Dhananjay Munde should have resigned earlier and found a dignified way out of the situation that arose after Deshmukh’s murder.
The BJP leader was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme in Nagpur.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday (4) said Fadnavis should have sought Munde’s resignation within 24 hours of sarpanch’s murder, and slammed the government over the delay.
Raut said NCP leader Munde resigned as cabinet minister due to mounting pressure after images of brutality inflicted on sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh sparked outrage.
