Got offer to stage 'encounter' of Beed sarpanch murder accused: suspended cop

A suspended police sub-inspector from Beed on Monday claimed some persons had offered him the chance to carry out an 'encounter' of Walmik Karad, a prime accused in Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh's murder case.

Ranjeet Kasle, the suspended cop, also said he had mentioned the names of the persons who made the offer in a local police station diary. A senior police official from Beed, however, dismissed Kasle's claims as baseless and said he should submit proof of his statements.

Kasle was suspended earlier as a sub-inspector in the local cyber crime department.

Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Maharashtra's Beed district, was abducted and tortured to death on 9 December last year allegedly for attempting to stop an extortion bid targeting an energy company.

Karad is among the eight persons arrested so far and booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

The state Crime Investigation Department (CID) last month filed a 1,200-plus page chargesheet at a court in Beed in Deshmukh's murder and two related cases.

Speaking to a regional news channel, Kasle claimed some persons had approached him with an offer to carry out an "encounter" of Karad, a close aide of state minister Dhananjay Munde, who represents the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar).

"I was given this offer by a team of a few people and I have mentioned their names in the station diary. The offer was only for Walmik Karad and was given to me before I was suspended. I refused, saying I couldn't commit such a sin," he said.

"They make a lump sum offer of Rs 10, 20, 50 crore. A person who can do this is called... like I was with the cyber department and had no connection with this case, but I was made the offer because they knew I have guts," he claimed.

Referring to the custodial death of Badlapur sexual assault case accused Akshay Shinde, Kasle said the SIT ordered by Bombay High Court should be of the Central government, only then would the truth come out.

Asked about Kasle's claims, a senior police official from Beed said, "All the things are baseless. He should submit evidence for what he is saying. Whatever he is doing is not in our work ethics."

Kasle has already been suspended and a preliminary enquiry (PE) against him is on. The police have sent him a notice, but he has not accepted it yet, the official added.