Beed Sarpanch Murder Accused Surrenders In Pune

Valmik Karad, accused of murdering Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, surrendered to Pune CID after releasing a video claiming false implication. Police have registered three FIRs related to the case.

Representative Image

Source : PTI

Valmik Karad,  the man accused for the murder of Beed Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, surrendered himself at the Pune CID office on Tuesday.

Karad, who is one of four individuals charged in the extortion case filed following the murder of Deshmukh in Massajog, Beed district, surrendered to the CID approximately at 12 noon. As per the details, police have registered three seperate First Information Reports (FIRs) related to the case, as reported by Hindustan Times.

The first one is regarding kidnapping and murder of Deshmukh, while the second one is about his involvement in assaulting a security guard at a local firm. The third FIR is related to an extortion attempt of Rs 2 crore by local villagers targeting a renewable energy company operating a windmill project in Massajog.

Before surrendering, Karad released a video message and said that he have been falsely implicated in the extortion case and will hand over himself to the CID. He further appealed to the police to conduct an impartial investigation in this case, as well as other cases related to Santosh Deshmukh.

बीडमधील सरपंच संतोष देशमुख हत्या प्रकरणात फरार असलेला वाल्मिक कराड हा पुण्यात सीआयडीला शरण आला आहे. शरण येण्यापूर्वी त्याने एक व्हिडिओ पोस्ट करून आपण निर्दोष असल्याचं म्हटलं आहे. #Lokmatnews #beed #walmikkarad #Pune #santoshdeshmukh #marathinews pic.twitter.com/M787Fbzh1S

— Lokmat (@lokmat) December 31, 2024

Earlier, on the speculations that Karad may surrender, security was heightened at the CID headquarters in Pune.

Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, was kidnapped and murdered on December 9. The CID teams have been searching for Karad for the last fortnight, however, they failed to locate him. This issue of security situation in Maharashtra was also raised during the winter session of the state assembly.

Opposition parties have been demanding Karad’s arrest, alleging that he is a close associate of Dhananjay Munde, a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).