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On the run for over 20 days, Walmik Karad surrenders
Walmik Karad surrendered at State Criminal Investigation (CID) department in Pune on Tuesday morning in case pertaining to extortion bid
PUNE: Walmik Karad, close confidante of state minister Dhananjay Munde who has been on the run since December 11 following the horrific murder of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, surrendered at the State Criminal Investigation (CID) department in Pune on Tuesday morning in a case pertaining to an extortion bid.
Karad alighted from a white Scorpio, went straight inside the office and was immediately taken into custody by the CID sleuths at around 12.30 pm. After four hours of interrogation, he was taken to Kej town in Beed district where the original offense was registered.
“Today at around 12.30 pm, the suspect on the run Walmik Karad surrendered, following which we arrested him and the preliminary inquiry was conducted,” said Sarang Awad, CID inspector-general. “He is likely to be produced before the local court in Kej for his custody. For further investigation, we have handed him over to the Beed CID team led by the deputy superintendent of police.”
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, while reacting to Karad’s arrest, said, “Our investigation was speedy, and as a result, Walmik Karad had no option but to surrender to the police. Now we are focussing on the other absconding accused involved in the murder and will find them all.”
Fadnavis also called the slain sarpanch’s family members. “Today I spoke to Santosh Deshmukh’s brother and assured him that he needn’t worry,” he said. “All those involved will be nabbed, and the police will not stop until they are hanged to death.”
Speculation was rife since early morning about Karad’s surrender, and a large number of his and minister Dhananjay Munde’s supporters gathered outside the CID headquarters in Pashan. Heavy police bandobast was arranged at the venue to avoid any untoward incident. The police had to shoo the supporters away and even rounded up some and whisked them away to the nearby Chaturshrungi police station.
Minutes before Karad surrendered, he released a video stating, “I preferred to surrender before the police despite having the right to seek pre-arrest bail. I have been wrongly booked in the extortion case. I appeal to the police to probe this and other cases pertaining to Santosh Deshmukh impartially.”
Karad is one of the three accused in a ₹2-crore extortion case filed by a wind energy firm called Avaada at Kej police station in Beed on December 11. The opposition has alleged that he is the mastermind behind Deshmukh’s killing although he has not been named in the murder-related FIR.
The accused’s surrender, however, has evoked sharp criticism by the opposition. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar in his X post raised doubts about the timing. “Did Walmik Karad surrender after destroying evidence?” he questioned. “After 22 days of filing an extortion case, the police and CID could not catch Walmik Karad. Not only that, today, while surrendering, Karad comes in his own car. There cannot be a bigger failure of the Maharashtra Police and the Home Department!”
