Maharashtra minister's aide gets 14-day judicial custody, charged under MCOCA

Walmik Karad, an aide to Maharashtra NCP minister Dhananjay Munde, was on Tuesday charged under the stringent MCOCA and remanded to 14 days of judicial custody in an extortion case allegedly linked to the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh. The Kej court in Beed district ordered Karad's judicial custody after his 14-day police remand ended. Subsequently, the police approached the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court, which issued a production warrant for him, an official said, indicating that he is expected to be produced in court again on Wednesday.

"Walmik Karad was remanded to judicial custody by the (sessions) court. After police approached the MCOCA court, a production warrant was issued against him. He is likely to be produced in court again tomorrow," the official stated.



Karad had surrendered to the CID in Pune amid protests over the murder of Deshmukh. He appeared before CID on December 31, last year. He was then remanded to police custody for 14 days.

Before surrendering, Karad released a video on social media saying that he was being falsely implicated in the murder out of political vendetta.

In a separate development, Karad's mother, Parubai Karad, staged a sit-in protest outside a police station in Beed district on Tuesday, demanding her son's release.

Some of Karad's supporters even climbed a stone tower to support her cause. Parubai arrived at the Parli city police station in the morning, vowing not to leave until her demands were met.

"My son has done nothing wrong and should be released. Even if my life ends, I will not get up from here," Parubai told reporters outside the police station.


When asked about the serious accusations against her son, she claimed, "I don't know who is doing this, but this is all fake."

She further alleged that local MLAs, BJP's Suresh Dhas and NCP (SP)'s Sandeep Kshirsagar, were behind the framing of her son and demanded their arrest.

Meanwhile, supporters of Karad vented their anger over the invocation of MCOCA against him by throwing stones at buses, setting tyres on fire and attempting to block roads in Parli town. The protests took place even though prohibitory orders had been in place in Beed district till January 28.

Several supporters took to the streets, raising slogans hailing Karad and demanding a bandh.

Police lodged two cases for damaging public property following the protests.

The Beed district administration has banned the congregation of five or more persons without permission and also disallowed individuals from carrying arms in public areas.

Massajog village sarpanch, Santosh Deshmukh, was abducted, allegedly tortured, and murdered on December 9. Preliminary investigations indicated that Deshmukh had tried to resist an extortion attempt on an energy company operating a windmill project in the area.

The Kej Police so far arrested seven persons in the murder case, while another accused is on the run. Karad was booked in the extortion case, but the slain sarpanch's family has demanded that he be made an accused in the murder case too.