Sarpanch murder: Beed Police nab fugitive NCP leader Vishnu Chate

Beed (Maharashtra), Dec 18 Amid a political furore, the Beed Police have arrested a ruling Mahayuti ally, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) activist Vishnu Chate in connection with the December 9 murder of Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in Kej village of Massejeog taluka, officials said here on Wednesday.

Additional Superintendent of Police, Beed, Sachin S. Pandkar confirmed the development and said Deshmukh was nabbed on the Beed-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar highway as he attempted to flee the district.

On the run for the past nearly 10 days, Chate's arrest takes the total number of arrested-accused to four so far, plus three more wanted absconders, and police have formed multiple teams to track them.

Earlier charged in an extortion case of Rs two crore from a windmill company, Chate is now also accused of allegedly masterminding the killing of the Sarpanch that has blown up into a full-scale political controversy.

Police probe so far has pointed at purported links between the extortion case involving a windmill company and the Sarpanch murder case, said an official.

In the previous (extortion) case lodged by the local windmill company, among the accused was one Walmiki Karad - who is said to be close to NCP Minister Dhananjay Munde - plus Chate and some other associates.

The Sarpanch, who was reportedly killed for helping thwart the extortion attempt on the windmill company, was first abducted, brutally tortured and later killed in broad daylight near the windmill company office on December 9 afternoon.

The killing of the village headman has erupted into a major caste-politics ruckus as the deceased was a Maratha while the prime accused (Chate) belongs to the OBC (Vanjari) community – both are currently at loggerheads over the ongoing reservation agitation.

Amid massive protests, demonstrations, and walkouts by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (SP)-Shiv Sena (UBT), the state government has handed over the murder probe to a Special Investigation Team.

SS (UBT)'s Leader of Opposition in the Council Ambadas Danve slammed the Mahayuti regime over the "total collapse" of law and order in Beed and Parbhani (after the desecration of Dr B. R. Ambedkar's statue on December 10), and other incidents.

He alleged that Munde's close aides Walmiki and Chate are directly responsible for the extortion case and the Sarpanch murder, NCP (SP) General Secretary Jitendra Awhad, Congress state President Nana F. Patole and other seniors also targeted the Mahayuti on the issue.