Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis issued an order on Wednesday appointing senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam as the special public prosecutor and Advocate Balasaheb Kolhe as the assistant special public prosecutor in Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh’s murder case.

“Senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam has been appointed as the special public prosecutor by the Maharashtra government in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case in Beed district, while Advocate Balasaheb Kolhe has been appointed as the assistant special public prosecutor,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

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Reacting to the Chief Minister’s order appointing him as the special public prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam said, “I was very upset to hear that the villagers of Massajog had begun a hunger strike to have me appointed as a government lawyer. On Tuesday, I informed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that I was ready to prosecute the case, following which the Chief Minister’s Office issued the order. I appeal to the residents of Massajog to end the hunger strike. Law and justice are supreme in this country. No one should do anything that harms health. As soon as the police file a charge sheet in this case, we will take up the case immediately.”

However, anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania said, “Only one of the demands made by Dhananjay Deshmukh and the villagers of Massajog has been accepted. But for that, they had to go on a hunger strike. This is very unfortunate. One of the many demands made by the Deshmukh family and the villagers of Massajog through the hunger strike was that this case should be handed over to Ujjwal Nikam. After the protest, this demand was accepted. This is unfortunate for the Deshmukh family, the villagers of Massajog, and all of us. These things should have been done immediately. Whether it was appointing an SIT in this case or handing over the investigation to the CID, all these things took three months. All this is very bad”.

Meanwhile, although Deshmukh’s family and the villagers of Massajog expressed satisfaction that one of their demands of making Nikam the prosecutor has been conceded, they have decided to continue with their hunger strike until all their other demands are met.

Shortly after Chief Minister Fadnavis announced the appointment of Ujjwal Nikam as Santosh Deshmukh murder case prosecutor, the Beed Superintendent of Police requested the villagers to call off their hunger strike.

However, the protesters stated that they would not back down unless their remaining demands were accepted as well on the second day of their agitation. They raised questions about the investigation into the Santosh Deshmukh murder case and began the second day of their protest by garlanding the statue of the late Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh.