SIT invokes MCOCA against eight accused in the brutal murder of Beed’s Massajog Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh | File Photo
Mumbai: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the brutal murder of Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district on December 9, on Saturday invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the eight accused persons.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is in charge of the home portfolio, had recently hinted that tough steps would be taken against the suspects. The application of MCOCA means that it will be very difficult for the accused persons to obtain bail.
However, the SIT despite probing the case for several weeks is yet to find evidence against Walmik Karad, a close associate of minister Dhananjay Munde. Karad, who recently surrendered to the police, has been booked only for alleged extortion of two crore rupees from a windmill company.
The opposition parties and a ruling BJP MLA Suresh Dhas have alleged that no action will be taken against Karad because of his proximity to Munde and hence they have demanded the removal of the minister from the cabinet.
Munde is the strongman of Beed and along with Karad has been lording over the backward Beed district for several years. Munde is also receiving the support of his NCP party chief and deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who has categorically ruled out his removal from the cabinet “in the absence of any evidence against him.”
The SIT has applied MCOCA against Sudarshan Ghule, Prateek Ghule, Sudhir Sangle, Krishna Andhale, Vishnu Chate, Siddharth Sonawane, Mahesh Kedar and Jayram Chate. All of them except Krishna Andhale have been arrested so far.
The interrogation of Andhale is very crucial to the investigation, but he is proving to be elusive. The failure of the SIT to nab him is making it difficult to solve the crime. Even after interrogating the seven accused, the SIT has not been able to effect a breakthrough despite the fact that the murder was reportedly videographed.
Dhas has alleged that the accused persons had used several sharp weapons to inflict almost 100 wounds on Deshmukh over a torture period of four hours in a moving Scorpio.
He further alleged that when Deshmukh begged for water, the accused urinated into his mouth. “The extreme cruelty of the crime has prompted me to come out in the open despite being a member of the ruling party. No one should be subjected to such brutality,” he added.
According to MCOCA, organised crime is defined as any unlawful continuing activity by an individual, singly or jointly, either as a member of a crime syndicate or on behalf of such a syndicate, by the use or threat or violence, terrorism, coercion, intimidation, insurgency or other means intending to gain undue economic gains or advantage of himself or a group.
According to Section 3 (1) of the MCOCA, the accused can be punished with imprisonment for a minimum of five years to life. It also provides for confiscation of the property of the accused.
The invocation of MCOCA is unlikely to silence the critics of the government. They say the SIT’s probe has been opaque. Till date it is not known if the call data of the cell phones of the accused persons has been retrieved. It is not clear with whom they were in telephonic contact before and after the murder.
There are reports that the video of the murder has been retrieved, but a source close to Dhas said that is not true. What is irking the opposition is the fact that the SIT is not showing keenness to go to the depth of the case and they attribute this to political pressure. Thousands of people in different parts of the state have come out in the open demanding justice for Deshmukh’s family. That does not appear to have made any difference to the government.
