Absconding BJP worker from Beed arrested for attempted murders, other offences

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A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker, who was absconding in attempt to murder and other cases, has been arrested from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra Police said on Wednesday.

According to news agency PTI, the accused, Satish Bhosale, is a close aide of Beed Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Suresh Dhas.

Bhosale, also known as 'Khokya', had spoken at length to some news channels over the past few days, even as he was on the run.

He has been booked under two attempt to murder cases and one Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case registered against him in Beed district of Maharashtra, PTI reported.

Apart from these, he is also booked in a case under the Forest Act, a police officer said.

He is also booked in some cases in Ahilya Nagar district of Maharashtra, PTI reported.

Bhosale is an office-bearer of BJP's nomadic tribes wing, 'Bhatke Vimukta Aghadi'. He is a resident of Zapedwadi in Shirur Kasar tahsil, the officer informed.

Recently, a video where Bhosale and his gang members were purportedly seen assaulting a man with a cricket bat had gone viral.

A local farmer had also lodged a complaint against Bhosale for allegedly assaulting him on the face with an axe when his son objected to the BJP leader's gang laying a trap to hunt deer, the officer said.

Bhosale will be produced before a court in Beed.

The central Maharashtra district has been in news for more than three months following the brutal murder of Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh of Massajog village.

Dhas, a local MLA, was in the forefront of a campaign seeking Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Dhananjay Munde's ouster from the BJP-led Maharashtra cabinet after the ex-minister's close aide Walmik Karad was arrested in a case related to Deshmukh's murder. Munde, the state food and civil supplies minister, resigned earlier this month, days after his close aide Walmik Karad was named as the mastermind in the Beed Sarpanch murder case.

Last week, Dhas had also alleged that a meeting had taken place in Munde's official residence, allegedly over the extortion in connection to Deshmukh's murder case, news agency.

(With PTI inputs)