‘Those helping Karad should be named as co-accused’

MUMBAI: Vaibhavi Deshmukh made a powerful point during an impassioned speech at a protest march in Mumbai on Saturday. Tears rolling down her cheeks, the daughter of the slain Beed sarpanch didn’t hold back when she accused the authorities of hypocrisy. She said her family had been assured that her father’s killers would be brought to book; instead, the alleged mastermind of his murder, Walmik Karad, had been admitted to a hospital in Beed, where he had been shifted from jail.

“While doing so (admitting Karad to hospital), why didn’t you think of my father, who was tortured before being killed?” Vaibhavi said that if the accused had not killed her father after torturing him, he would have been alive today. With a heavy heart, she said, “He would have been with us.”

She demanded, “Give justice to my father and name those who are helping the main accused in the murder as co-accused.

Vaibhavi was addressing a rally after participating in a ‘Jan Akrosh Morcha’, which began at Metro cinema and reached Azad Maidan in South Mumbai. Attended by leaders from all political parties, the march and rally were held to demand justice for the family of Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village who had been tortured and murdered on December 9, for opposing an extortion attempt at a local wind energy company. Participants in the march in Mumbai raised questions over the hospitalisation of Walmik Karad, who is in judicial custody.

Saturday’s march and rally were the latest in a series of protests in various parts of the state, demanding an impartial investigation into Deshmukh’s murder. However, political leaders have repeatedly pointed out that the probe would not be impartial as long as NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, benefactor of Karad, continues as a minister in the BJP-led Mahayuti government.

NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad accused the police of providing all sorts of comfort to Karad in hospital. Awhad, who also addressed the rally at Azad Maidan, said, “He (Karad) is enjoying his stay in an air-conditioned room in hospital. Now he will come up with more serious diseases. The entire ICU has been vacated for him,” he claimed, and quipped, “Set him free and let the people take their decision.”

Awhad then trained his guns on Munde over his links with Karad and said, “Karad was working for the political success of his boss and the same person (Dhananjay Munde) is allowed to remain in the cabinet when an investigation is underway. No civil surgeon will have the guts to say that he (Karad) has no problem (with his health) and that he should be taken back to jail.”

The NCP (SP) MLA also alleged that Karad, a local strongman, was friends with the Beed police. He said the government did not have the courage to transfer any of them.

Responding to Awhad’s allegations, Anand Paranjpe, chief spokesperson of the NCP, said, “Jitendra Awhad was an accused in an assault case filed by Anant Karmuse. Despite that, he was a minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government for two years. In Munde’s case, he is not an accused, so Awhad has no moral ground to ask for Munde’s resignation.”

Munde has been at the centre of the controversy due to his close links with Karad. The state government is under tremendous pressure to drop Munde from the state cabinet but NCP president and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has backed him so far.