JP national secretary and Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Pankaja Munde on Wednesday complained against her party legislator Suresh Dhas for dragging her name in the murder case of Santosh Deshmukh, the slain Sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district.
Mumbai:BJP national secretary and Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Pankaja Munde on Wednesday complained against her party legislator Suresh Dhas for dragging her name in the murder case of Santosh Deshmukh, the slain Sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district. Ms Munde said that she has asked the party leadership to give a warning to Dhas and ask him not to link her with the Massajog case.
Ms Munde is a cousin sister of NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, who had to resign from the state cabinet minister after his close aide Walmik Karad was arrested in the murder case. It has emerged from the chargesheet that Deshmukh’s assailants had recorded 15 videos, clicked eight photos, and made two video calls while torturing and killing him. Karad is the alleged mastermind behind the murder.
The Sarpanch of Massajog was abducted, tortured and murdered on December 9 last year allegedly for attempting to stop an extortion bid targeting an energy company in the Beed district. Suresh Dhas, who is the MLA from Ashti constituency in Beed, has been vocal and raising the issue of Deshmukh’s murder. He was at the forefront of the demand for action against Karad and Dhananjay Munde. Recently, Dhas had questioned why Pankaja Munde maintained silence and did not visit the sarpanch’s family after he was killed. Dhas had also said that Karad had worked for Pankaja Munde and she had accepted the felicitation by him.
Ms Munde said that despite she being the party’s national leader, Dhas has been dragging her name in the murder case. “I have made a complaint to the party’s top leadership including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state party president Chandrashekhar Bawankule. I don’t have any connection with the murder case. Despite this, my name is being dragged. This is not expected from him (Mr Dhas). I have requested the party leadership to warn him,” the BJP national secretary said.
The minister also claimed that the Mahayuti government was in power in the state since June 2022 and Dhananjay Munde was guardian minister of Beed district, while Dhas was the member of the legislative council. “Karad was active and working in the Beed district even then. Why did not Dhas not make a complaint to senior Mahayuti leaders? He started raising the issue of crime in Beed only after I became the minister in December 2024,” she said.
Dhas said that Santosh Deshmukh was BJP’s booth pramukh. “I have kept this issue alive for the BJP’s booth Pramukh. Till the culprits of Deshmukh’s murder are not punished, I will continue to pursue this issue,” he said.
