22 January,2025 06:57 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Activist Anjali Damania. (Pic/X)
Activist Anjali Damania on Wednesday met Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) Rashmi Shukla and demanded that the trial in the sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case be conducted in Mumbai, news agency PTI reported.
The anti-corruption activist also demanded the shifting of the Beed Sarpanch murder case accused to Arthur Road Jail in the city from other jails.
Damania alleged collusion between police and one of the accused, Vishnu Chate, who she claimed was shifted to Latur jail "of his choice", PTI stated.
She apprised the top police officer of the prevailing atmosphere of "terror" in Beed, during her meeting in Mumbai.
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The activist told reporters that she also submitted details about two companies owned by Dhananjay Munde and his wife in which the minister's aide and extortion case accused Walmik Karad is a shareholder, PTI reported.
Karad is an accused in the extortion case involving a windmill company linked to the Beed Sarpanch murder case.
According to PTI, Damania claimed Munde may cease to be a legislator over the issue of office of profit.
"The [sarpanch murder] trial should be conducted in Mumbai. The accused, Vishnu Chate, was shifted to Latur jail due to his collusion with police. He and other accused in the case should be shifted to Arthur Road Jail to break the association with police," Damania added.
She further claimed that a government loan of Rs 62 crore was extended to a sugar mill in which Munde holds a stake, and requested DGP Shukla to order scrutiny by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, PTI stated.
Earlier on Wednesday, Karad was remanded in 14-day judicial custody.
Santosh Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in central Maharashtra's Beed district, was abducted, tortured and murdered on December 9. Preliminary investigation indicated that Deshmukh had tried to resist an extortion attempt targeting an energy company.
The Kej Police arrested seven persons in the murder case, including Chate, while another accused is on the run.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said those involved in the Beed Sarpanch murder case will not be spared, and sought death sentence for the accused in the "heinous" crime, news agency PTI reported.
"Be it Walmik Karad or anyone else, not a single person involved will be spared. For such heinous murders, there is no other punishment than the death penalty," Shinde said.
(With inputs from PTI)
