Beed Sarpanch murder: BJP MLA fires fresh salvo at Dhananjay Munde from Maratha morcha platform

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A Maratha group organised a march in Pune on Sunday to condemn the murder of Beed Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh and the death of Somnath Suryawanshi in judicial custody in Parbhani.

During the protest, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Suresh Dhas claimed that a meeting discussing an extortion deal in Beed had taken place at the residence of Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde in June. According to Dhas, the meeting was between Munde's aide, Walmik Karad, and officials from a company, news agency PTI reported.

Karad had been arrested after he surrendered to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) in connection with the extortion case linked to the Beed Sarpanch murder case.

The march, organised by the local unit of Akhand Maratha Samaj, started from Lal Mahal at noon and culminated at the District Collector's office, PTI reported.

Apart from Dhas, the family members of the murdered sarpanch, former Chief Minister (CM) Prithviraj Chavan, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) lawmaker Bajrang Sonawane, Maratha activist Manoj Jarange, along with leaders from various parties and office-bearers, were also present during the march.

Protesters shouted slogans against Munde, PTI reported.

"A meeting was held on June 14 between Walmik Karad and officials of a renewable energy company at Dhananjay Munde's residence in Parali (in Beed district). Simultaneously, Munde's PA (personal assistant) spoke with some senior officials of the company. Meetings also took place at the official residence of Munde in Mumbai. A deal of Rs 3 crore was finalised in the meeting," Dhas, the MLA from Beed district, alleged.

He added that he had provided the evidence to the police. "Walmik Karad alias 'aaka' and his PA use 17 mobile phones. The Beed superintendent of police and the CID IG can recover more evidence from these phones," Dhas said.

Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village, was abducted, tortured, and murdered on December 9, allegedly because he tried to prevent an extortion attempt involving an energy company operating a windmill project. Police have arrested seven individuals in connection with the murder.

Suryawanshi, a Dalit, died in judicial custody after his arrest in connection with violence in Parbhani in December over the desecration of a glass-encased replica of the Constitution.

(With PTI inputs)