The gruesome murder of Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Kej taluk of Beed district, has shaken Maharashtra. It has also exposed an unholy alliance between the police and the henchmen of politicians in the lawless Beed, a district that has witnessed more than 300 murders in the last five years.
Santosh, who was popular in Massajog, could have been saved had the police acted on time, said his brother Dhananjay. Had the police registered a stringent case against the accused on December 6, Dhananjay told THE WEEK, Santosh would still be alive. Instead, he said, the police were busy helping the accused, who are now in jail.
Understanding the circumstances that led to Santosh’s murder is important. Suresh Dhas of the BJP, who represents Ashti constituency in Beed district in the assembly, alleged that the murder plot was hatched in May 2024. The accused seized their opportunity in December, when Santosh intervened in a dispute between the accused and the security staff of a company named Avada Energy. The accused, led by a man named Sudarshan Ghule, had demanded Rs2 crore from the company.
On December 6, Ghule and the other accused allegedly began beating up Ashok Sonavane, a security personnel at Avada Energy and a native of Massajog. Sonavane called Santosh, his sarpanch, who rushed to the Avada Energy office. Santosh tried to reason with Ghule, but they ended up exchanging slaps.
Villagers soon intervened and calmed the situation. Sonavane, a dalit, and Santosh then went to the police station to register a complaint, hoping to invoke the Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Ghule and the other accused. But the police refused to register the complaint.
Three days later, on December 9, Santosh received a message summoning him to settle the dispute. Hoping for a resolution, he left with his cousin. But their vehicle was intercepted by two black Scorpios. The accused abducted Deshmukh, while his cousin, who tried to stop them, was told to call Vishnu Chate, a local NCP leader later dismissed from the party. Chate assured the cousin that Santosh would soon be released.
Hours later, Santosh’s body was found dumped by the roadside, bearing marks of brutal torture. Some media reports suggested that the body had more than 100 wounds, and that the video of the torture was shown live to a politically powerful person. The news of Santosh’s death triggered outrage in the village. Angry villagers demanded justice at the police station, forcing the police to register a case against the accused.
Santosh, a Maratha, was a BJP activist. His family had moved from Barshi in Solapur district to Massajog to be near their relatives. He had actively campaigned for BJP candidate Pankaja Munde during the Lok Sabha elections and for Namita Mundada, the BJP MLA of Kej, in the recent assembly elections.
In the dock: Valmik Karad (right), a close aide of Dhananjay Munde (left), surrenders before the Criminal Investigation Department on December 31 | PTI
The arrested accused are all Vanjaris―a community that is part of the Other Backward Classes. The cold war between Vanjaris and Marathas in Beed dates back to the days of Gopinath Munde, the late BJP stalwart who was a Vanjari himself. Munde solidified the Vanjari community’s support to the BJP when he was state BJP president and, later, deputy chief minister from 1995 to 1999.
This is where Valmik Karad, a key figure in the case, emerges. Karad, who has been arrested for his role in the attempt to extort Rs2 crore from the company, used to work at Munde’s house at Parli Vaijnath. After Munde became deputy chief minister, he rose through the ranks under the patronage of Munde’s brother Pandit Anna Munde. This connection helped him become close to Pandit Anna’s son, Dhananjay Munde, now a prominent NCP leader and minister in the Maharashtra government.
A BJP activist and former member of the Beed Zilla Parishad told THE WEEK that Valmik played a crucial role in Dhananjay’s rise in electoral politics by managing his Parli constituency. In return, Dhananjay made Valmik deputy president of the Parli municipal council. The two Vanjari leaders gained significant influence when Dhananjay served as guardian minister for Beed for nearly five years―first in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, which the NCP was part of, and then in the Mahayuti government, after the Ajit Pawar-led NCP joined the BJP-led saffron alliance. Dhananjay has political roots in the BJP―he was a member of the BJP-affiliated Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha before joining the NCP before the 2014 assembly polls.
As Dhananjay’s power grew in the NCP, so did Valmik’s influence in Beed. He controlled sand mining, allocation of government contracts and the sale of ash from the Parli Thermal Power Plant.
Tensions between Marathas and Vanjaris flared up during the recent Maratha reservation agitation. As clashes between the two communities erupted in Beed, Maratha leaders―both in the NCP and the BJP―who resented the Munde family’s hold on the district saw an opportunity to challenge their dominance. The group includes MLAs Prakash Solanke of the NCP, Suresh Dhas of the BJP and Sandeep Kshirsagar of the NCP (Sharad Pawar).
It was not just the Marathas who were harassed by Valmik’s men. Members of other communities, including Vanjaris, were also targeted by his goons.
Dhas, who made a fiery speech on the murder case during the winter session of the state legislature, has alleged that a meeting to extort money from Avada Energy took place in May at Dhananjay Munde’s official bungalow. Valmik Karad and officials from the company were allegedly present at the meeting; the initial demand for Rs3 crore was settled at Rs2 crore.
“With folded hands, I want to urge [Chief Minister Devendra] Fadnavis and [Deputy Chief Ministers] Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar that they must sack Dhananjay Munde from the cabinet,” said Dhas. He also met the Maharashtra governor with opposition leaders, asking him to intervene.
The case has become a major challenge for Fadnavis, who met Santosh’s family on January 7 and assured them that the culprits would be punished, no matter how powerful. He has also announced a judicial probe and the formation of a special investigation team. The measures he is likely to take to dismantle the alleged nexus between criminals and politicians in Beed would be keenly watched.
Also, how Fadnavis deals with Dhananjay Munde, who is close to Ajit Pawar, remains to be seen. Ajit has ruled out action against Munde until the ongoing investigations are completed. “Three agencies are probing the case,” said Pawar. “So far, no name has come up. So how can I take action?”