Assailants made videos of sarpanch's assault

The assailants of Santosh Deshmukh, a sarpanch (village head) in Maharashtra's Beed district, recorded 15 videos, clicked eight photos, and made two video calls as they abducted, tortured, killed, and dumped his body on a roadside in December.

- Yogesh Joshi and Nadeem Inamdar

MUMBAI:

According to the charge sheet submitted in the case last week, Deshmukh was abducted for allegedly attempting to foil an extortion bid on an energy company.

The brutality of the murder cited in the charge sheet forced Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Dhananjay Munde to resign as minister on Tuesday amid mounting pressure on him to do so following his aide Walmiki Karad's arrest in the case.

The pictures and videos of Deshmukh's torture and the murder went viral on social media and sparked outrage. In one of the videos, five accused are purportedly seen thrashing Deshmukh with a pipe and a stick besides kicking and punching him. The video shows Deshmukh half-clad as he is being forced to sit.