Shiv Sena activists stage protest in Pune over sarpanch's murder

Pune: Activists of the Shiv Sena on Tuesday staged a protest here against the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh and demanded capital punishment for the accused involved in the crime.

The party's Pune unit president, Pramod Bhangire, led the protest, during which activists burnt an effigy of Walmik Karad, a close of NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, arrested in an extortion case related to the murder.

Bhangire said, "Deshmukh was brutally murdered. We demand capital punishment for the perpetrators." Munde, the state food and civil supplies minister, resigned from the state cabinet earlier in the day with the opposition doubling down on its demand for his ouster.

Gory photos and court chargesheet details related to the sarpanch's killing have surfaced, revealing the brutalities committed before the murder.

Deshmukh was abducted, tortured and murdered on December 9, last year, allegedly for attempting to stop an extortion bid targeting an energy company in the district.