Maharashtra Congress senior leader Balasaheb Thorat on Wednesday demanded the strictest punishment for attackers and masterminds in the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh after visiting his family.
He demanded that the case be tried in a fast-track court.
Deshmukh was abducted and murdered on December 9, triggering a political firestorm with the Opposition accusing the BJP-led Mahayuti government of failing to take stern action and giving a long rope to an aide of a minister.
“The brutal murder of Santosh Deshmukh has shocked Maharashtra and tarnished humanity. The government should act immediately to ensure the strictest punishment for perpetrators and masterminds behind this heinous crime,” Thorat said after meeting Deshmukh’s family members in Massajog village in Beed district.
“The murder is deeply distressing and has shaken the entire Maharashtra. The murderers and those who orchestrated this act must be immediately apprehended and dealt with the harshest punishment,” said Thorat.
The former minister demanded a thorough investigation to unmask the mastermind of the crime and those responsible for spreading terror in Beed and across Maharashtra.
“Justice must be served swiftly, and the case should be taken up in a fast-track court to ensure that the culprits, irrespective of caste or religion, face the full force of the law,” he said.
“The fear of law should be instilled in criminals, but the current situation shows that the administration lacks control,” he said.
The Congress party will always stand firmly with the family of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, former minister Amit Deshmukh said the incidents in Parbhani and Beed are a blot on the progressive history of Maharashtra.
“We demand immediate arrest of the culprits behind these two incidents and justice for the victims’ families,” he said.
Parbhani witnessed violence after a glass-enclosed replica of the Constitution near Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s statue outside the city’s railway station was vandalised on December 10.
Somnath Suryavanshi (35), who was arrested among more than 50 persons in connection with the violence, died at a state-run hospital after falling ill in judicial custody.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who met the family of Suryavanshi on Monday, claimed he was “killed” because he was a Dalit and protecting the Constitution.
Arrested accused Jairam Chate, Mahesh Kedar, and Pratik Ghule were remanded in police custody till January 6 by a court in Kaij on Monday. A fourth accused, Vishnu Chate, is in police custody till December 27.
Police had said that one of the accused, Vishnu Chate, had allegedly demanded Rs 2 crore from an energy company that had installed a windmill in Beed district and threatened to stop their operations if their demands were not met.
Deshmukh had tried to intervene and stop the extortion due to which he was abducted from his car. He is alleged to have been tortured and killed by the accused following which an FIR was registered against seven persons, including Chate, according to police.
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