Activists of the Maratha Mahasangh staged a protest in Jalna on Monday against the murder of Santosh Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district. The demonstrators showed black flags to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar during his visit to attend an event organised by the district unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The protest was led by Arvind Deshmukh, the district president of the Maratha Mahasangh, along with several activists who raised slogans condemning the recent incidents of violence and custodial death in the state. Demonstrators demanded justice for the families of both the murdered sarpanch and a Dalit man, Somnath Suryavanshi, who died in judicial custody.