Vishnu Chatte, accused in the sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case of Beed district of Maharashtra, could not get any relief from the court. The special MCOCA court dismissed his release application, saying that the accused appears to be a member of the organized crime gang and A has been involved in continuous illegal activities.
Special MCOCA Judge VH Patwadkar clearly stated in the order earlier this month that prima facie there is enough grounds to take action against the accused. This order of the court is considered important in this case, because the defense was constantly claiming that there is no concrete evidence against the accused.
According to the police, the whole matter is of 9 December 2023. Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, was kidnapped. He was murdered because he opposed an attempt to recover forcibly from an energy company. He was abducted and tortured and then killed.
In this murder, eight people, including Valmik Karad, a close associate of former minister Dhananjay Munde, were arrested. A case was registered against him under several sections of the Maharashtra Organized Crime Control Act (MCOCA), Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Indian Code.
Vishnu Chate had argued in the court that there is not enough basis to frame allegations against him. He said that he was neither involved in the kidnapping nor did he play any role in the murder. He also said that the conditions of implementing MCOCA against him were not fulfilled, because he was not a member of any organized gang.
He also alleged that his name was added late to the case due to political pressure. According to him, it was a conspiracy to trap. However, the police dismissed the claim that Karad and other co-accused had demanded a ransom of Rs 2 crore from Avada Energy Private Limited and threatened to stop the business.
A police officer said that when Sarpanch Deshmukh opposed this recovery, Karad abducted him with his companions and killed him and killed him. After this, the accused threw the body of Santosh Deshmukh at Dathna Phata and escaped. The role of Vishnu Chate was also found suspicious in this entire incident.
The police also told the court that after the incident, Vishnu Chatte had destroyed his mobile phone. This fact proves to be involved in his crime and collusion with co-accused. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikkam argued in the court that there is enough evidence to proceed against the accused and to framing the charges.
Ujjwal Nikkam clearly said that Vishnu Chate cannot be excluded from this matter. After hearing the arguments of both the parties, the court admitted that prima facie proves that the accused appears to be a member of the organized crime gang. He deliberately helped co-accused and he has been an important part of the conspiracy of crime.
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