'Why Valmik Karad not named ringleader?': Beed sarpanch's brother questions SIT's chargesheet

CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: The slain Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh's younger bother, Dhananjay, on Monday questioned why Valmik Karad was not named as the syndicate's ringleader in the special investigation team's comprehensive chargesheet pertaining to three cases connected to the sarpanch murder case.

The Criminal Investigation Department's SIT filed a comprehensive chargesheet of about 1,400 pages at the special MCOCA court in Beed on Thursday evening, concluding that the three cases — the bid to extort Rs 2 crore from a windmill firm, the attack at the windmill firm's office in Massajog and atrocities committed against the guard there, and the abduction and murder of sarpanch Deshmukh — belonged to the same chronology of events.

"People have brought to my notice that Sudarshan Ghule has been named as the ringleader of the syndicate in the (SIT's comprehensive) chargesheet, while Karad as the key accused. I want to know why Karad has not been named as the ringleader. I will meet CID officers in this regard on Tuesday," Dhananjay told TOI.

Dhananjay said he was yet to go through the chargesheet in its entirety and was taking legal help to understand its content. "I am not an expert to understand all that has been filed in the chargesheet. So, I am taking help from lawyers, who have told me that the chargesheet is strong and help take the case to its logical end," he said.

The issue of Karad not being named as the ringleader in the chargesheet has also been raised by others, including activist Anjali Damania.

Sarpanch Deshmukh's gruesome murder on Dec 9, 2024, resulted from a bigger conspiracy by former Parli council chief Karad and his seven aides "to create a reign of terror by eliminating anyone coming in the way of their Rs2 crore extortion bid" on a renewable energy firm, which invested over Rs300 crore in a windmill plant at Kaij in Beed district, the state CID has concluded.

The Rs2 crore extortion bid on Nov 29, 2024, is one of the three cases, the other two being the abduction-murder of Deshmukh, and the Dec 6, 2024, assault on the firm's staffers.

Details of a combined chargesheet for the three cases revealed that between Oct 8 and Dec 9 last year, Karad and his seven aides "committed various offences in the course of the same transaction" to execute their conspiracy.

The probe agency said it collected enough proof in the form of oral, documentary, technical and medical evidence, besides CCTV footage and call records. "In the interest of justice" the agency decided to file a combined chargesheet against the 54-year-old Karad (a close aide of NCP minister Dhananjay Munde), Vishnu Chate (47), Dnyaneshwar alias Sudarshan Ghule (26), Pratik Ghule (24), Sudhir Sangle (22), Mahesh Kedar (21), Jairam Chate (21) and Krishna Andhale (30). Andhale is still absconding.