Beed sarpanch murder case: MCOCA court refuses to discharge four accused

Mumbai, Nov 14 (PTI) A special court in Maharashtra's Beed has refused to discharge four accused in the murder case of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, citing "sufficient grounds" to proceed against them.

The accused appeared to be members of an organized crime syndicate and were involved in continuing unlawful activities, MCOCA judge V H Patwadkar held in an order passed on November 11.

Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, was abducted and tortured to death on December 9 last year, allegedly for attempting to stop an extortion bid targeting an energy company.

Eight persons, including prime accused Walmik Karad- a close associate of former Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde- have been arrested under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe [Prevention of Atrocities] Act and Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

As per the prosecution, Karad and other accused sought a ransom of Rs 2 crore from private firm Avaada Energy Private Limited to allow it to operate their business in Kaij taluka. The accused reportedly threatened to halt the company's work if the ransom was not paid, it said.

Further, the prosecution claimed Karad and other accused allegedly conspired, kidnapped, and fatally assaulted Deshmukh when he intervened. As per police, the accused threw Deshmukh's body at Daithana Phata and fled.

Four of the accused - Pratik Ghule, Sudhir Sangale, Mahesh Kedar, and Jayram Chate had sought discharge from the case claiming "they are innocent and have been falsely implicated due to political motivations".

They further claimed no case is made out against them under MCOCA.

Appearing for the state, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam submitted that the applicants will repeat similar or greater offences if they are discharged. There is sufficient evidence against them, he told court.

The court, after hearing both sides, said the statements of witnesses and other relevant documents "prima facie, show complicity of the applicants/accused in the said crimes".

"Therefore, prima facie, there are sufficient grounds to proceed against the applicants/accused. Hence the applicants/accused are not entitled to be discharged," the court ruled. PTI AVI BNM