With murders, extortions, is Beed becoming the state's Wild West?

The murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh has exposed the criminal nexus in the district

- Saurabha Kulshreshtha

BEED: From brazen extortion bids to abductions to murders to supporters of politicians publicly brandishing revolvers, Beed has become the Maharashtra equivalent of the Wild West. The district swerved into the limelight this month due to the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh by a group of extortionists seeking to make money from a wind power plant in his village.

The brutal crime—Deshmukh was tortured and mutilated before being killed—blew the lid off the simmering anger in the region, and on Saturday, leaders from practically every political party took to the streets to demand action against Walmik Karad, a strongman whom they accuse of running an empire of terror, and his patron, NCP minister Dhananjay Munde.

When HT visited Deshmukh's village Massajog, an endless flow of people came to meet the family of the late sarpanch. Most of them, like Balasaheb Yevle and Indubai Waghmare from Majalgaon, expressed the same feeling: "Enough is enough. After this heinous crime and public outburst, if the criminals and their political masters manage to save themselves, they will start harassing whoever they want in the district."

Deshmukh's murder has opened a can of worms. There have been a number of allegations of extortion, abduction, intimidation, land grab and murders by certain people who wield enormous clout in the government. It is alleged that the police do not take much action and the government machinery is a mute spectator. Opposition leaders as well as local MLAs from the district have been accusing Karad of being the kingpin of one such network. The activities of his syndicate were limited to Munde's constituency Parli, but in the past few years had spread to other places in the district, they alleged.