About the death of Santosh Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog, Walmik Karad, a close aide of Dhananjay Munde, the minister of food and civil supplies for Maharashtra, has been accused under the strict Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Thirty-five days after Deshmukh’s death, accusations were brought.
The incident started after Karad was given judicial custody in a separate extortion case by the Kej sessions court. The police then applied to prosecute Karad with the Deshmukh death under the MCOCA. The application was granted by the court, and a production warrant was issued. The police will now attempt to take Karad into prison when he appears in court on Wednesday.
Karad’s followers called for a bandh in Parali after learning of the MCOCA allegations. The accused’s mother, Parubai Karad, participated in a protest outside the Parli police station among other protesters. She claimed that fake cases were being made against her son.
Karad had previously appeared in the Kej sessions court, where the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) requested that his police custody be extended. Instead of granting judicial custody, the court rejected the request. But in the Deshmukh case, the CID and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) acted quickly, submitting a plea to invoke MCOCA against Karad. A production warrant was issued after the request was granted by the MCOCA court.
Siddheshwar Thombre, Karad’s attorney, voiced his worries about the abrupt change in circumstances. Karad was placed into judicial custody by the court when his police detention ended today. A production warrant was later granted by the MCOCA court in response to the CID’s application. The information and supporting documentation about the MCOCA charges are currently pending. We don’t know the precise basis for the charges. We’ll decide on the next course of action once we get all the facts we need,” Thombre stated.
The facts connecting Karad to Deshmukh’s death and the rationale behind applying the strict MCOCA clauses are expected to be clarified during his upcoming court appearance.