Maharashtra: Walmik Karad charged under MCOCA, in 14-day judicial custody

A court in Maharashtra on 14 January, Tuesday, sentenced NCP minister Dhananjay Munde's close aide Walmik Karad, wanted in a Rs 2 crore extortion case linked to the murder of a sarpanch in Beed district, to 14-day judicial custody.

Karad had surrendered before the police in Pune on 31 December and was remanded to 14-day police custody at the time.

He was brought from Beed and produced before the court in Kej in the same district on Tuesday.

Karad has been booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA), an official said.

Dhananjay Deshmukh, the brother of slain sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, had staged a protest in Massajog village in Beed on Monday, 13 January, demanding demanded that Karad be booked under MCOCA.

Today, after the hearing, supporters of Walmik Karad threw stones at buses and set tyres on fire in Parli town after the MCOCA was invoked against him, police said.

Eight persons were booked in the Beed case, of which one is absconding and seven are in the custody of the Kej police.

Before turning himself in, Karad posted a video on social media, claiming that he was being linked to the murder for reasons of political vendetta.

Today, after the hearing, hundreds of Karad’s supporters targeted local buses with stones, set tyres ablaze and tried to block roads in Parli, officials said. They raised slogans in support of Karad and called for a bandh.

The demonstration was held despite prohibitory orders being in place in Beed district till 28 January. The police have registered two cases for damaging public property, an official said.

Prohibitory orders were imposed in Beed district till 28 January in view of protests against the murder of the sarpanch and the ongoing quota-related agitations by Maratha and OBC activists.

The district administration said in a release issued on Monday, 13 January, that assembly of five or more persons without permission from authorities has been prohibited and that people are not allowed to carry weapons in public places.

Santosh Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Kej tehsil of Beed district, was abducted, tortured and brutally killed on 9 December 2024. Preliminary investigation suggests he had tried to thwart an extortion bid on an energy firm operating a windmill project in the region.

Edited agency inputs