Beed sarpanch murder: Kej MCOCA court to hear three cases on March 12

The Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Kej will hear all three cases -murder of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, bid to extort money from Avaada Wind Energy company and assault on security guard of the firm on March 12.

The murder of Deshmukh on December 9 last year has triggered a political firestorm in the state as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister Dhananjay Munde’s close aide Walmik Karad was arrested in connection with the related extortion case.

Deshmukh had foiled an attempt to stop ₹2 crore extortion from Avaada Wind Energy company leading to his abduction and brutal murder.

Other arrested accused in the case include Sudarshan Ghule, Vishnu Chate, Jairam Chate, Mahesh Kedar, Siddhartha Sonawane, Sudhir Sangale and Prateek Ghule and Krushna Andhale is still absconding.

The CID-SIT constituted at the direction of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis completed the probe in 80 days and submitted a 1,400-page chargesheet before the MCOCA court on February 28.

The chargesheet details the role of Karad in Deshmukh’s murder, along with supporting evidence. It describes how the seven other accused conspired and executed the killing, including their individual roles.

On December 6, Sudarshan Ghule, Pratik Ghule and Sudhir Sangale barged into Avaada’s office in Parli. They assaulted the security guard, who was present there, showed videos of the incident that surfaced on social media and have been included in the charge sheet as evidence. Deshmukh reached the spot after receiving a call from Avaada officials and requested Ghule and others to back off from the extortion bid. Since that moment, Deshmukh came into the cross hairs of the accused and was finally removed from their path to extortion, the chargesheet mentions.

The chargesheet was submitted before the court of additional district and sessions judge Sudhir Bhajipale.

Justice Bhajipale after the submission of the chargesheet carried out the hearing on March 1 and then kept the next date of hearing on March 12.

Prominent lawyer Advocate Ujjawal Nikam has been appointed as the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the case.