Beed sarpanch murder: Walmik Karad sent in 7-day custody of SIT

A special court for Maharashtra Control Of Organised Crime Act MCOCA in Maharashtras Beed city on Wednesday remanded Walmik Karad in 7day custody of SIT reported the PTIWalmik Karad an associate of NCP minister Dhananjay Munde was on Tuesday booked under the stringent MCOCASubsequently the police approached the special MCOCA court for his custodyKarad is an alleged accused in the Beed sarpanch murder caseThe Special Investigation Team SIT of Maharashtra police had sought his custody for ten daysHe was produced before the district court in Beed on Wednesday afternoon and remanded in fresh SIT custody till January 22Santosh Deshmukh sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district was abducted tortured and murdered on December 9 Preliminary investigation indicated that Deshmukh had tried to resist an extortion attempt targeting an energy company operating a windmill project in the area as per the PTIWalmik Karad was earlier arrested in the extortion case related to the murder after he surrendered before the police in Pune on December 31The MCOCA action happened after Deshmukhrsquos brother Dhananjay and fellow villagers protested in Massajog on Monday demanding MCOCA and murder charges Dhananjay had climbed up a water tank and got down only after the police assured him of action The state government had also excluded some members of the SIT a day before and added new officers to it whose background was verified for any links with the accused especially KaradAs the news of the MCOCA application spread Walmik Karadrsquos supporters and kin protested in Parli town calling for shutting shops and businesses Karadrsquos mother wife and supporters staged a sitin protest in front of the police station all daySupporters of Walmik Karad on Tuesday threw stones at buses and set tyres on fire in Parli town after MCOCA was invoked against him police said as per the PTIHundreds of supporters of Karad targeted 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 bandhThe demonstration was held despite prohibitory orders in place in Beed district till January 28Police have registered two cases for damaging public property following Tuesdays incidents an official saidProhibitory orders have been imposed in Beed district till January 28 in view of protests against the murder of a sarpanch and quotarelated agitations by Maratha and OBC activistsThe district administration said in a release issued on Monday that assembly of five or more persons without permission from authorities has been prohibited and people are not allowed to carry weapons in public placesThe Kej police have so far arrested seven persons in the murder case while another accused is on the runwith PTI inputs