DyCM Shinde seeks death penalty for those involved in sarpanch murder; says none will be spared

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said those involved in the sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case will not be spared, and sought death sentence to the accused for the heinous crime.Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, was abducted and tortured to death on December 9.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said those involved in the sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case will not be spared, and sought death sentence to the accused for the ''heinous'' crime.

Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, was abducted and tortured to death on December 9. Preliminary investigation indicated that he had tried to resist an extortion attempt targeting an energy company operating a windmill project in the area.

The murder case triggered a political slugfest as Walmik Karad, a close aide of NCP minister Dhananjay Munde, was arrested in the extortion case linked to the sarpanch murder case. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, deputy CM Shinde described the murder of the sarpanch as ''very unfortunate'' and sought justice. ''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,'' he said.

Karad was arrested in the extortion case related to the murder after he surrendered before the police in Pune on December 31. Last week, he was charged under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Sarpanch Deshmukh was killed because he was thought to be an obstacle in a plan to extort Rs 2 crore from an energy firm, and Walmik Karad was in contact with his killers when the crime was executed, the Maharashtra police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) told the court in Beed last week.

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