Warning: Spoiler alert
The final episode of Season 3 of Panchayat leaves the audience on a cliffhanger. Who ordered the hit on Pradhanji? The most obvious suspect would be the Vidhayak (MLA), considering their turbulent history. Episode 8 of Season 3 stretches for about 50 minutes with an engaging plotline and constant shift of scenes that keep the viewers entertained.
The episode records the hassles that follow the sale of MLA’s horse, which leads to a head-to-head conflict between Phulera and the MLA. The effect of the unresolved conflict lingered in the scenes that followed. Fifteen days after the incident, while Sachivji leaves for his CAT exams, Pradhanji, Prahlad, Vikas and himself face an attack from two men in a motorbike with their faces masked. They manage to get Sachivji aboard the bus while the other three try to escape the gunmen.
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Unfortunately, they end up getting caught by the attackers, who specifically asked for Pradhanji. This reveals that the hit was ordered exclusively against Pradhanji. This hints that the MLA might not have been the one behind the attack. The MLA holds a grudge against all the residents of Phulera and not against Pradhanji alone. If he wanted to settle the scores, he would have taken revenge on all of them and would have been satisfied by killing just anyone. The humiliation that he suffered was not just from Pradhanji, but from the entire village. Additionally, from Season 2 we know that the Vidhayak holds a grudge against Sachivji. He would not have spared him, if he had ordered the hit. Additionally, the Panchayat elections and the his own by-election to the Assembly constituency were coming up. So why would a seasoned politician like him would damage his image ahead of polls?
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After Pradhanji was shot in the shoulder and hospitalised, the MLA tries to visit him, which leads to an ugly fight between the two groups. Right before the fight begins, the MLA tells Abhishek that he or his men do not have any weapons and security cover to prove that he was not the one behind the incident. The Vidhayak goes on to say that if he had his way, Pradhanji would be dead by now. Besides, with the MLA facing cases for animal cruelty, it would not be wise of him to order a hit recklessly. To read about fan reactions to Panchayat Season 3, click HERE.
Apart from all these, it is clear that Pradhanji does not have unanimous support from the villagers. His biased actions in granting houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for people in Phulera West have caused enmity. So anyone could be behind this attack. The MLA might not have made the cleverest moves in the past, but would he risk losing his MLA post and get imprisoned by killing someone ahead of the elections? Panchayat Season 3 has left this question for us to ponder until when Season 4 is back. Director Deepak Kumar Mishra has revealed that they have already began working on Panchayat Season 4. Besides Season 5 is on the anvil.
