Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis unleashed the full might of the state CID to nab the main accused in the murder of Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh but remained silent as on Monday, about the documents uploaded by anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania on her X handle, which linked Ajit Pawar-led NCP leader as well as Civil Supplies minister Dhananjay Munde, to the alleged killer Valmik Karad.

In a related development, Munde reached the Sahyadri Guest House here on Monday and had a discussion with Fadnavis, it is learnt. Sources said that the CM had called a meeting of secretary-level officials to review the roadmap of their departments for the next 100 days, but Munde arrived at the Sahyadri Guest House and met him.

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According to sources, there is every indication that the killer Valmik Karad has been left with no other option but to surrender to the police, either by Monday night or Tuesday morning. Four smartphone videos of the assault on murdered Massajog village official Santosh Deshmukh of Beed district have been recovered by the state police and it is learnt that several calls were made from the phones of the accused to some prominent political leaders of Maharashtra.

So far, four accused have been arrested in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case. Jairam Chate, Mahesh Kedar, Prateek Ghule and Vishnu Chate have been arrested, while Valmik Karad, Sudarshan Ghule, Krishna Andhale and Sudhir Sangle are still absconding.

Meanwhile, in Beed, murdered Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh’s brother Dhananjay Deshmukh filed writ petition in the Aurangabad bench of the High Court demanding that political favour and political connections given to criminal activities must be investigated. The petition has alleged that Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dhananjay Munde is responsible for this and he should be removed from the ministerial post immediately in order to ensure that political pressure is not exerted on the investigation into the kidnapping and murder case, given the relationship between Munde and Valmik Karad. The petition has demanded that the investigation into this matter must be impartial.

In a related development, BJP MLA Suresh Dhas, met the District Collector of Beed on Monday. Dhas said that he has given a statement to the District Collector regarding the issue of unauthorised rackets and criminal activities in the district, as well as arms licenses given to the wrong people.

Commenting about the absconding accused Valmik Karad in the Massajog village sarpanch murder case, Dhas said, “Valmik Karad ‘s brother Dhananjay Munde should ask Karad to appear before the police. The police are investigating. Valmik Karad will be arrested soon. There is talk that he will surrender. However, I know that there is a dispute between Valmik Karad and his ‘brother’ state cabinet minister Dhananjay Munde about the surrender”.

Earlier on Saturday, Fadnavis had ordered the Additional Director General of CID Maharashtra to immediately cancel the gun licenses of those accused in the village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case as well as confiscate their properties. He had also ordered the Beed Superintendent of Police to immediately conduct a review of all gun licenses issued in Beed so far.

The CM’s action was seen as a reaction to a series of tweets with photographs and videos uploaded by Anjali Damania on her X handle featuring the accused as well as associates of those accused in the Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case.

Significantly, Fadnavis had ordered cancellation of the licenses of all those who feature on the photographs carrying guns, uploaded by Anjali Damania, if the guns are indeed real, but has not reacted to the documents uploaded by Damania to her X handle linking Dhananjay Munde to the killer Valmik Karad so far.