Sarpanch murder case Prosecution presents primary facts before court

    Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Mar 26 (PTI) Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on Wednesday presented the primary facts, including the motive, in the sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case, in a court in Maharashtra's Beed district.
    The noted lawyer, who appeared before the court for the first time after his appointment as special public prosecutor in the murder case, told PTI that an application will be filed on April 10 for framing of charges.
    Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, was abducted and tortured to death on December 9 last year allegedly for attempting to stop an extortion bid targeting an energy company.
    Eight persons, including Walmik Karad, a close aide of former Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde, have been arrested so far and booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
    The other arrested accused were identified as Sudarshan Ghule, Vishnu Chate, Jairam Chate, Mahesh Kedar, Sudhir Sangale, Prateek Ghule and Siddharth Sonawane. One Krishna Andhale is a wanted accused in the case.
    "The facts in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case, the motive of the murder were presented in the court today. Documents related to the case were also handed over to the advocate of the accused," Nikam said.
    The accused in the sarpanch murder case were produced in a court via video-conference.
    Before the hearing, Nikam met the family members of the deceased sarpanch and the Crime Investigation Department (CID) officials.
    The next hearing in the case is scheduled to take place on April 10.
    Talking to PTI after the hearing, Nikam said, "I opened the case for the prosecution today. I told the court about the sequence of events and the criminal conspiracy (behind the murder). The motive (of extortion) behind the murder of sarpanch was told to the court."
    "We also told the court that we have evidence for every fact presented. This case is based on circumstantial, paper and scientific evidence...We filed an application in the court requesting that the identity of the witnesses be kept secret," he said.
    The court was told that accused Sudarshan Ghule was working as per instructions of prime accused Walmik Karad, he said.
    "We will file an application to frame charges on 10 April," Nikam added.
    The prosecution also submitted in the court the audio recordings in which the personnel of Avaada Energy Private Ltd company were threatened, he said.
    The documents sought by the accused through their lawyers were also submitted, Nikam said.
    Meanwhile, Dhananjay Deshmukh, the brother of slain sarpanch, met Nikam before the court hearing.
    Talking to reporters, Deshmukh said, "This was a primary meeting. We sought a separate meeting with him (Nikam). We are also going to write to the judicial committee about our demands and its copy will be given to the CID, Beed Superintendent of Police (SP) and others."

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)