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Has Beed become Maharashtra’s Wild West?
The murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh has exposed the criminal activity in the district by a syndicate allegedly protected by NCP MLA Dhananjay Munde
BEED: From brazen extortion bids to abductions to murders to supporters of politicians publicly brandishing revolvers, Beed has become the Maharashtra equivalent of the Wild West. The district swerved into the limelight this month due to the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh by a group of extortionists seeking to make money from a wind power plant in his village.
The brutal crime—Deshmukh was tortured and mutilated before being killed—blew the lid off the simmering anger in the region, and on Saturday, leaders from practically every political party took to the streets to demand action against Walmik Karad, a strongman whom they accuse of running an empire of terror, and his patron, NCP minister Dhananjay Munde.
When HT visited Deshmukh’s village Massajog, an endless flow of people came to meet the family of the late sarpanch. Most of them, like Balasaheb Yevle and Indubai Waghmare from Majalgaon, expressed the same feeling: “Enough is enough. After this heinous crime and public outburst, if the criminals and their political masters manage to save themselves, they will start harassing whoever they want in the district.”
Deshmukh’s murder has opened a can of worms. There have been a number of allegations of extortion, abduction, intimidation, land grab and murders by certain people who wield enormous clout in the government. It is alleged that the police do not take much action and the government machinery is a mute spectator. Opposition leaders as well as local MLAs from the district have been accusing Karad of being the kingpin of one such network. The activities of his syndicate were limited to Munde’s constituency Parli, but in the past few years had spread to other places in the district, they alleged.
The murder that shook Beed
On December 6, accused Sudarshan Ghule and others assaulted security guard Ashok Sonavane at a wind power plant in the village. When Deshmukh intervened, he was abducted, tortured and his eyes were gouged out. His body was found dumped near a highway on December 9. Videos of his mutilated body went viral across the district.
The images sparked anger also allegedly because of the Maratha-versus-Vanjari conflict in the district, which was evident during the Maratha quota agitation last year. There has been a tussle between Marathas and Vanjaris, an Other Backward Classes (OBC) community, in the district for years. Deshmukh was a Maratha while the perpetrators of the crime were Vanjaris.
“Earlier too, there were extortion and murder cases,” said Vipin Deshmukh, a shopkeeper. “In many such cases, the victims were Vanjaris or from some other community. Many did not dare to speak against the criminals. This time, Karad attacked the wrong man. The Maratha community is vocal, and hence a cover-up was not possible.”
The clout of the accused
When HT visited Santosh Deshmukh’s house on Sunday, his brother Dhananjay said he was going to meet CM Devendra Fadnavis and demand that the call records of Karad and other accused be examined. “This will expose all the connections in this criminal syndicate,” he said, adding that the local police were lenient when the extortion bid happened.
“On May 28, some goons had kidnapped officials from the windmill company,” said Dhananjay. “The police filed an FIR immediately on May 29 and acted on it. Since then, those goons never dared to return to our area. However, the police did not file an FIR when the security guard was assaulted, and allowed Sudarshan Ghule and his men to get away. This encouraged them to abduct my brother and kill him. The police are equally responsible for the murder of my brother.”
Beed city MLA Sandeep Kshirsagar asked a question at the Saturday rally: “What happened to Ramkrishna Bangar?” Several people told HT that Bangar, who runs several institutions, was targeted by the criminal syndicate, and he and his family members were booked in cases such as atrocities and attempted murder. “It was a ploy by the syndicate to take over their institutions,” said a trader. “The Bangar family submitted the CCTV footage and their locations on the said dates to prove they were not here. Many traders too have been forced to surrender their dealerships to the crime syndicate.”
A family working for Karad has filed an application in a Solapur court against his son Sushil, accusing him of abducting and sexually assaulting a minor girl from the family. The next hearing is in the Solapur court on January 10, 2025. According to the application, the Beed police did not register an FIR against Sushil Karad and his two friends under POCSO although the girl is a minor.
Munde’s protection and Karad’s rise in Beed
According to locals, the activities of Karad and his men were limited to Parli till 2019. All that changed after Dhananjay Munde became the guardian minister of Beed.
Munde’s party colleague and MLA Prakash Solanke on Saturday pointed out that BJP leader Pankaja Munde had on an earlier occasion alleged that the guardian ministership of Beed had been given to Karad “on rent”. “Karad was in full control of the district, as his orders were treated like those of Munde’s,” said Rajendra Maske, a local NCP (SP) leader. “The district administration and police started taking orders from him. He began interfering in development fund works in other constituencies and contracts related to them.”
Syed Hanif Syed Karim, secretary of Mehboobiya Education Society in Parali, alleged that Karad had used his muscle and political power to give control of the education society to those in the organisation belonging to the NCP. He also cited an incident when Karad sent his goons on January 26, 2020 during the flag-hoisting function. “We filed a complaint but the police initially denied it. Back then, we didn’t name Karad due to his terror. No one used to take his name. Now, after the Santosh Deshmukh murder, everyone is naming him.”
Government’s response
Following the public outcry and opposition’s attack, CM Devendra Fadnavis on December 20 announced a judicial probe into the Beed incidents. He also said in the assembly that Karad would be booked under MCOCA for extortion and would be named as an accused if found to be involved in the Deshmukh murder. On Saturday, he directed the police to attach the properties of the three absconding accused in the case. However, both Fadnavis and deputy CM Ajit Pawar have been silent on the demand for Munde’s removal from the cabinet.
Calls and messages to Dhananjay Munde and his office for his response went unanswered.
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Naked display of power
Images and videos of Karad supporters brandishing their weapons have gone viral on social media. MLA Suresh Dhas has demanded an inquiry into the distribution of arms licenses to over 1,200 people in the last few years, which, he alleged, were granted under pressure from the Karad-Munde duo. On Saturday, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered Beed SP Navneet Kanwat to cancel the arms licences of those who were found brandishing them in public.
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