Maharashtra Minister Dhananjay Munde resigned from his position in the state cabinet on Tuesday, shortly after his close associate, Walmik Karad, was identified as the mastermind behind the murder of a local sarpanch in Beed.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the resignation, stating he has accepted Munde’s decision and sent it to Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan for approval. This move came amid mounting pressure from opposition parties calling for Munde’s removal.
Fadnavis held an emergency meeting late on Monday with Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar, along with other senior NCP officials, to address the escalating situation. The opposition’s call for Munde’s resignation gained momentum after harrowing images and details from the court chargesheet concerning the murder of Santosh Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village, were made public. The documents highlighted the gruesome circumstances surrounding the crime.
Deshmukh was reportedly kidnapped, tortured, and killed on December 9 of last year after he attempted to thwart an extortion scheme targeting an energy company in the area. The state’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) filed a comprehensive chargesheet exceeding 1,200 pages in a Beed court on February 27, detailing the murder and two related incidents.
Three distinct cases have been opened at the Kej police station in Beed, covering the sarpanch’s murder, the attempted extortion from the Avaada company, and an assault on a security guard affiliated with the firm. The police have applied the strict Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against those implicated in these cases.
So far, seven individuals have been arrested and charged under MCOCA, while one suspect remains at large. In addition to Karad, those apprehended include Sudarshan Ghule, Vishnu Chate, Jairam Chate, Mahesh Kedar, Siddhartha Sonawane, Sudhir Sangale, and Prateek Ghule, with Krishna Andhale identified as the wanted suspect in this matter.
