Maharashtra’s Minister for Higher and Technical Education, Chandrakant Patil of the BJP, said in Sangli on Monday that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will ask Food & civil Supplies Minister Dhananjay Munde of the Ajit Pawar led NCP to step down if any evidence against Munde is found linking him to the murder of Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh of the BJP.

“The investigation into the murder of Santosh Deshmukh is underway. Each matter is different. As the head of the government, Devendra Fadnavis is fully capable of making decisions. If he believes there is substance in the allegations, he will act immediately and ask Munde to resign. The Maharashtra government has already seized properties of the accused in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case. Stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) provisions have also been invoked against Valmik Karad and the other accused,” Patil said.

Advertisement

The process of seizing Karad’s assets is also on, the minister said. Incidentally, Fadnavis also heads the state’s home ministry which oversees the functioning of the police.

However, one of the key accused in the Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case named Krishna Andhale is still absconding since the murder on December 9 last. The Beed district police has announced a reward for anybody giving any information which leads to his arrest as well as appealed to citizens to provide information about Andhale’s whereabouts.

The Beed police has also stated that whosoever gives information about absconding accused Krishna Andhale will be rewarded by the police and the informer’s identity will be kept confidential. The police has also intensified as well as extended its search for Krishna Andhale to neighbouring states of Maharashtra after announcing that he “is wanted as a fugitive from justice”.

An accused is declared as “wanted fugitive from justice” after failing to surrender before the court or the police even after a non-bailable warrant has been issued by the court against him and several notices have been served against him under Section 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

Meanwhile, anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania tweeted on her X handle today that, “I have requested time to meet Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to demand Dhananjay Munde’s resignation. Ajit Pawar and I are not on good terms because I am constantly fighting against his corruption and will continue to fight till my death, but the act done in Beed is a disgrace to humanity. The minister (Dhananjay Munde) who is giving shelter and aiding such savages should have resigned immediately, but Ajit Pawar wants time to bring out the evidence, right? Time has been sought to come up with evidence about how Valmik Karad and Dhananjay Munde are together, how they did deals together, how Dhananjay Munde and (his wife) Rajshree Munde deal with Mahagenco. All this is against the rule of people’s representatives enjoying office of profit. So let alone Munde’s minister post, he must resign even from his MLA post”.