Maha Sarpanch Homicide: Post-Surrender, CID Transports Walmik Karad to Beed Court (Ld)

Pune (Maharashtra), Dec 31 (NationPress) Hours after he released a video statement and surrendered, fugitive Walmik Karad -- the primary suspect in the assassination of Massajog Sarpanch Santosh Pandit Deshmukh on December 9 -- was swiftly taken by a police team to the Kej village police station in Beed for further inquiries, a senior official disclosed on Tuesday evening.

State Crime Investigation Department (CID) Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of Police, Sarang Awhad, informed the media that Karad voluntarily came forward and surrendered at the Pune CID Office.

He arrived in a luxury vehicle owned by an activist affiliated with the ruling MahaYuti coalition's Nationalist Congress Party, got out with folded hands, and was almost overwhelmed by the press present, but was quickly encircled by CID officials and taken inside.

There, Karad was interrogated for several hours by a team of officers, and at around 4 p.m., he was discreetly loaded into a van and transported to Beed, surprising the large media presence outside the CID office.

Karad -- a close associate of Maharashtra Food & Civil Supplies Minister Dhananjay P. Munde -- is expected to be presented before a local magistrate for a night remand hearing in Kej, according to officials.

Following the abduction, brutal torture, and public murder of Sarpanch Deshmukh, Karad’s name emerged, and soon after, Munde’s name followed, leading to a significant political uproar in the state.

In response to the outcry both inside the Legislature and beyond, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis established a Special Investigation Team (SIT), and on Tuesday (December 31), after Karad’s surrender, he contacted the Deshmukh family and assured them that justice would be served in this case.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, including Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), as well as Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Shivba Sanghatana, and others, have launched an aggressive attack on the MahaYuti government, accusing it of failing to apprehend Karad for nearly three weeks until his surrender on Tuesday.

NCP (SP) Working President Supriya Sule and General Secretary Dr. Jitendra Awhad critically questioned, “What were the police and CID doing until he (Karad) surrendered?” and “How did the authorities have no awareness of Karad, who was hiding in Pune for the last three days?”

Congress member Atul Londhe stated that police actions were hindered by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ‘interference’, called for Fadnavis’ resignation, and demanded a court-monitored investigation into the Sarpanch case, while Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Kishore Tiwari claimed that the entire ‘surrender drama’ was suspect, urging for transparency in the investigations.

Although Karad has not been directly implicated in the Sarpanch case, he is facing charges related to a ₹2-crore extortion demand from a windmill company in Beed and an assault on a security guard.

However, on December 11 -- two days after Deshmukh’s murder -- his name surfaced, and he became ‘missing’, but phone records indicated he was active in Pune and Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh), leading to him being declared ‘wanted’ by the Maharashtra Police.

This afternoon, BJP MLA Suresh R. Dhas and NCP (SP) MLA Sandeep R. Kshirsagar -- who were vocal in their demands for Karad’s arrest -- met with Fadnavis, and subsequently, the serious CM stated that “Goonda raj will not be tolerated in the state and anyone involved in the Sarpanch murder will face consequences.”

Karad, who is regarded as close to the Munde political family of Beed, particularly Dhananjay P. Munde, comes from a modest background in Pangri village of Parli tehsil.

As a youth, he connected with the late BJP luminaries -- former Union minister Gopinath P. Munde (father of Minister Pankaja G. Munde) and his sibling Panditrao P. Munde (the father of Dhananjay P. Munde).

Karad was assigned the task of establishing the inaugural BJP youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in Parli under the guidance of Panditrao P. Munde.

Advancing his career, Karad was elected as a corporator of the Parli Municipal Council in 2001 and served as Deputy Mayor, while his influence grew alongside the Mundes and within local politics.

Over the years, Karad has garnered a notorious reputation, with over a dozen significant and minor criminal cases registered against him, though he firmly denied the recent extortion allegations in his video statement this morning.

He also asserted that he was being framed in the extortion case -- which is now linked to the Beed Sarpanch murder case -- but expressed willingness to assist investigators and accept any punishment.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: qnajmi@gmail.com)