A massive protest was organized in Pune by the local unit of Akhand Maratha Samaj, Maharashtra Rajya, on Sunday to condemn the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in Beed and Somnath Suryawanshi’s death in police custody in Parbhani.
The protest rally started from Lal Mahal to the Pune district collectorate, beginning at 10 am.
Jarange attends march
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil was also present at the protest.
The protestors were seen holding placards that read the accused in the case should be hanged and that the cases should be heard in fast-track courts to avoid delays in justice. They also demanded that National Congress Party (NCP) leader Dhananjay Munde resign after his close aide, Walmik Karad, was arrested in the extortion case linked to Deshmukh's murder.
While addressing the masses during the protest, Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil said, "People should stand firmly behind the Deshmukh family until they get justice. The accused in both the extortion and murder cases are the same, and I request the chief minister to register a murder case against them. People who have helped the accused should also be apprehended."
NCP (SP) MLA Sandip Kshirsagar said the opposition has three demands: that the case be tried in a fast-track court, that Munde resign as minister while the case is ongoing, and that the guilty be sentenced to death.
What is the case?
Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, was abducted, tortured, and murdered on December 9, 2024, prima facie for attempting to stop an extortion bid on an energy firm operating a windmill project in the region. Police have arrested six out of the seven persons involved in the murder.
