Beed Sarpanch murder: BJP legislator claims Walmik Karad was assaulted in jail; prison official denies

Walmik Karad. File Pic

Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Suresh Dhas on Monday claimed that the Beed Sarpanch murder accused, Walmik Karad, was assaulted by members of a rival gang.

However, a senior prison official has denied the Beed legislator's claims, news agency PTI reported.

Meanwhile, hours after Dhas made the statement, officials transferred four prisoners from Beed jail to the Harsul facility in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. One of them alleged that they had been assaulted at the behest of Karad, who is lodged in Beed district jail.

Earlier in the day, Dhas stated that the alleged assault on Karad and co-accused Sudarshan Ghule was triggered by a disagreement over making a phone call from a room allotted to inmates for talking to their family members, as provided by the jail administration.

According to PTI, he cited "complaints" that "aka (apparently referring to Karad)" had access to a "special phone" and special food in the jail, and demanded that the Beed superintendent of police (SP) visit the prison.

The Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Ashti in Beed district suggested that the longstanding rivalry between local gangster Baban Gitte and Karad could have led to the alleged assault.

According to Dhas, Gitte's supporters clashed with Karad and Ghule inside the prison.

"Karad's rivalry with Gitte goes back a long time. Karad used to say he would not wear footwear until he killed Baban, while Baban would say he would not shave until Walmik was dead," said the ruling party legislator, who has been regularly speaking on the Beed Sarpanch murder case.

However, BN Mulani, Superintendent of Beed District Jail, in a statement clarified that there had been no assault on Karad or his co-accused Ghule inside the prison as reported by a section of the media.

According to PTI, Mulani stated that there was an incident on Monday morning where two inmates under judicial custody - Sudeep Sonavane and Rajesh Waghmode - had a verbal altercation when they assembled in the room allotted to prisoners to make phone calls to their family members. The prison's security personnel intervened immediately, separated the two, and brought the situation under control, he said.

A case in this regard has been registered at the Shivajinagar Police Station, the statement added.

In the evening, jail officials transferred Gitte and the three others to Harsul Jail in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, PTI reported. While sitting in the police vehicle, Gitte claimed that he and the others were beaten up on the instructions of Karad. He demanded that CCTV footage from the jail be reviewed.

Gitte is an accused in the murder case of another sarpanch, Bapu Andhale.

Dhas had demanded that Karad, an aide of Nationalist Congress Party (leader) and former state minister Dhananjay Munde, as well as the other accused arrested in Beed Sarpanch murder case be moved to a jail either in Amravati district or Nagpur in the Vidarbha region.

Deshmukh, the 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 Karad, have been arrested so far and booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The other arrested accused are Sudarshan Ghule, Vishnu Chate, Jairam Chate, Mahesh Kedar, Sudhir Sangale, Prateek Ghule, and Siddharth Sonawane. One Krishna Andhale remains wanted in the case.

(With PTI inputs)