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Walmik spoke with suspects on day of sarpanch’s murder: SIT
SIT comprising officials of CID on Wednesday informed the court that accused Walmik Karad, Sudarshan Ghule and Vishnu Chate had a telephone conversation for 10 minutes on the day of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh’s murder
Pune: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising officials of CID on Wednesday informed the court that accused Walmik Karad, Sudarshan Ghule and Vishnu Chate had telephone conversation for 10 minutes on the day of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh’s murder and demanded ten-day police custody.
The Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Beed hearing the case then remanded Karad, an aide to Maharashtra NCP minister Dhananjay Munde, to seven days CID SIT custody till January 22 in connection with the fresh MCOCA charges invoked against him on Tuesday. The police custody of Karad came a day after the CID invoked stringent MCOCA against him.
The CID had pressed for 10 days police custody as the prosecution linked the murder of Deshmukh to the ₹2 crore extortion case in which Karad has been booked by the Kej police. Investigating officer Anil Gujar, deputy superintendent of police (DySP) CID, told the court about the progress in the case.
Special public prosecutor Balasaheb Kolhe told the court that on December 9 last year, the day of Deshmukh’s murder, there were mobile calls between accused Sudarshan Ghule, Vishnu Chate and Walmik Karad from 3.20 pm to 3.30 pm.
“We require 10-day custody to probe what transpired between the trio,” Kolhe told the court, adding that all the accused in the case are criminals on record and know each other. The SIT also informed the court that Karad had threatened Deshmukh on the day of his murder. The prosecution reasoned that MCOCA was invoked against Karad as he has many criminal cases lodged against him and a list of the same was furnished before the court.
Karad’s defence counsel Siddheshwar Thombre refuted the CID submissions stating that nobody had taken Karad’s name directly in the case and their client was being subjected to media trial by his political opponents. “There is no concrete proof about his involvement in the murder. The said extortion case cannot be linked to murder. Karad’s arrest is illegal and the charges have been invoked as an afterthought,” the counsel said, adding that the murder case is not applicable to Karad and merely calling the accused on phone does not make him an accused.
Karad surrendered before the CID in Pashan on December 31 last year and was remanded to 14 days custody in connection with the ₹2 crore extortion case. Sarpanch Deshmukh was murdered on December 9 last year by some individuals after he tried to stop an extortion attempt at Avaada Wind Energy Company officials. A video of the fight and subsequent violence inside the company premises had also gone viral on social media.
