SIT to probe Beed sarpanch murder case

The Maharashtra Government on Wednesday formed a 10-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the murder of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, officials said. The SIT would be headed by Crime Investigation Department’s Deputy Inspector General Basavraj Teli, said an order issued by the state Home Department.

Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Kej tehsil of Beed district, was abducted and brutally killed on December 9, allegedly for opposing an extortion bid by some persons who had demanded money from a windmill company.

The village residents on Wednesday morning staged ‘jal samadhi’ agitation seeking the arrest of the three absconding accused in the murder case. The protest, during which some 40 men and women stood waist-deep in a lake, was called off after two hours as district SP Navneet Kanwat assured them that police would leave no stone unturned to nab the accused.