21 hours Ago
Pune: The state criminal investigation department (CID)'s special investigation team (SIT) on Thursday reached Beed district to investigate all three cases related to the Dec 9 abduction-cum-murder of Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh . The cases include a Rs2 crore extortion bid by some local villagers on a renewable energy firm, which has set up a windmill project at Massajog, and an assault on the firm's security guard. State govt transferred these two cases to the CID on Wednesday, while the main murder case was transferred to the investigation agency on Dec 12.
Deshmukh's abduction-cum-murder was attributed to his attempt to intervene in the extortion bid and convince the villagers about the importance of the project. "An officer of the rank of superintendent of police is heading the SIT formed to investigate the three cases," additional director general of police (CID) Prashant Burde told TOI on Thursday. "The SIT members reached Kej in Beed district to continue with the investigation.
They have sought all documents related to the three cases from the local police units," Burde said. The Beed police had named three suspects in the extortion bid case and arrested one of them, later identified as Vishnu Chate. In the main murder case, the CID has already taken over the custody of three suspects, identified as Jairam Chate, Mahesh Kedar, and Pratik Ghule.
"Vishnu and others demanded Rs2 crore from an energy firm that installed a windmill in the district and threatened to stop their operations if the demands were not met. Deshmukh tried to intervene and stop the extortion, after which he was abducted in a car on Dec 9. He was tortured and killed by the suspects, following which the Beed police registered the case of abduction and murder against seven people," Burde said.
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