Beed sarpanch murder: NCP legislator asks Dhananjay Munde to resign or step down for fair probe

Mumbai, Jan 4 (IANS) Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator Prakash Solanke on Saturday demanded that his fellow party leader and Maharashtra’s Food and Civil Supply Minister Dhananjay Munde should resign on his own or the party leadership must force him to step down for an impartial and fair inquiry into the brutal killing of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh from Beed district.

“When Dhananjay Munde was the Beed district guardian minister, he had given his powers in local politics to his close confidant Walmik Karad (who was wanted in an extortion case linked to the murder of Santosh Deshmukh, surrendered before the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Pune on Tuesday) who had become an extra-constitutional authority in the district,” Solanke said.

“The atmosphere in the district has been vitiated due to extortion and criminal activities increased with the blessings of Karad. It also severely impacted the social harmony. Therefore, Dhananjay Munde should voluntarily resign, or the party leadership should force him to step down for a fair and impartial probe,” he added.

Solanke’s statement comes hours after the CID arrested two more accused — Sudarshan Ghule and Sudhir Sangle at Pune, who were absconding since the murder took place on December 4.

The NCP legislator’s demand comes days after Munde refused to resign.

“If I should resign, why should I? There must be some reason for this. I have nothing to do with any incident. I am neither an accused in any of these cases, nor do I have any connection with them. However, why the Opposition is demanding resignation?” Solanke asked.

He also said that he was the first to demand that all culprits involved in the killing of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh should be hanged and the case be tried at the fast-track court.

However, Solanke stuck to his demand, saying that Dhananjay Munde should resign at the earliest, especially when a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by IPS officer Basavraj Teli has been formed to probe the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh.

In addition, the Maharashtra CID is also investigating the case as well.

“During my meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, I have demanded Dhananjay Munde’s removal from the Council of Ministers. I have also demanded that the assailants of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh should be hanged. The Deputy CM has told me that an impartial probe is underway, and I have full faith in him. The investigation will be conducted into illegal activities and its usage to do politics in Beed district,” Solanke said.

BJP legislator Suresh Dhas, who has been quite vocal in raising several issues linked to the killing of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, also demanded that Dhananjay Munde should remain a Minister without portfolio until the charge sheet is filed in this case.

Meanwhile, an all-party Morcha was organised by the ruling Mahayuti allies in Parbhani to protest the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh. All party members, who turned in large numbers, demanded that the accused involved in the case should be arrested soon and they should be hanged.

A similar protest took place in Beed on December 31.

Pro-Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil, who participated in the protest in Parbhani, warned that if the deceased sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh’s family is threatened he would let Dhananjay Munde move on the streets.

The trigger was Santosh Deshmukh’s brother Dhananjay Deshmukh was threatened when he went to the police station to follow up on the investigation.

“We have received information that Dhananjay Deshmukh was threatened at the police station. But from now on, even if Santosh Deshmukh’s family and his brother Dhananjay Deshmukh’s case get affected, we will not let Dhananjay Munde roam the streets. We have tolerated the loss of one of our brothers. So far, we have not taken anyone’s name. But from now on, if the Deshmukh family is troubled, we will not let even one of them roam the streets,” Patil said.

He also added, “If you are killing people and hiding the accused in your house, how can we tolerate this? How exactly did all the accused start being found in Pune? This means that Ministers in the government were looking after the accused. The narco test of the accused in this murder and the accused caught in the extortion case should be conducted.”

–IANS

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