Beed Sarpanch Murder: Police Arrest Three Accused From Pune And Kalyan

While accused Sudarshan Ghule and Sudhir Sangle had been named in the FIR for murder, the name of Siddharth Sonawane surfaced during probe.

Beed: In a major development, police arrested three persons, including two who were absconding for their alleged involvement in the murder of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh on December 9 last year.

While two accused, Sudarshan Chandrabhan Ghule (26) and Sudhir Sangle (23), were arrested from Pune, the third Siddharth Sonawane was held from Kalyan in Thane district. Ghule and Sangle were named in the FIR for the murder while the name of Sonawane surfaced during the investigation. Police suspect Sonawane, a resident of Massajog village, kept a tab on the movement of Deshmukh and updated the other accused.

Ghule and Sangle were handed over to the special investigation team of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing the case, a police official said. Police have so far arrested seven persons in the case while one more accused is still absconding.

The police had earlier arrested Jairam Manik Change (21), Mahesh Sakharam Kedar (21), Prateek Ghule (24) and Vishnu Chate (45) in the murder case, while another accused Krushna Andhale is still at large. Deshmukh was abducted, tortured and murdered on December 9 prima facie for attempting to stop an extortion bid on an energy firm operating a windmill project in Beed district. Walmik Karad, an aide of Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde, has been arrested in the extortion case. Several police teams were deployed to arrest three accused on the run, and an SIT was constituted.

The probe team interrogated three persons to trace the absconding men, appointed informants and used technical skills to nab the two accused. A police officer said a doctor picked up from Nanded district proved to be a crucial link that led police to two accused in Pune. "Police monitored movements of Dr Sambhaji Vaybhase after his alleged links with Sudarshan Ghule surfaced during the investigation," sources in Beed Police said. After questioning, police handed over Vaybhase to the CID. Police suspect that Vaybhase helped Ghule flee after the murder.

Amid a political blame game over the Deshmukh murder case, BJP MLA Suresh Dhas launched a fresh attack on Dhananjay Munde and alleged that the two men arrested from Pune are just pawns while the key accused are roaming free. NCP MLA Prakash Solanke suggested that Munde be ousted from the council of ministers to ensure a fair probe into the murder case. Solanke is the first Nationalist Congress Party leader and second from the Mahayuti coalition to target Munde, an MLA from Beed district.