Walmik Karad, an aide to Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party minister Dhananjay Munde, was on Tuesday charged under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and remanded to 14 days of judicial custody in an extortion case allegedly linked to the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh.
Police in Beed, India, have arrested four individuals involved in trafficking a 21-year-old woman from Latur district. The woman was forced into multiple marriages, with the accused earning commissions from the arrangements. The investigation began after the victim attempted suicide due to the pressure of a fourth marriage.
Nationalist Congress Party minister Manikrao Kokate has resigned from the Maharashtra Cabinet after a court upheld his conviction and two-year jail term in a 1995 cheating and forgery case. This marks the second NCP minister to resign this year.
Some persons put up a green flag at the temple besides a saffron flag on Monday, when Eid was celebrated. This led to tension in the village for sometime, an official from Georai police station said.
The opposition Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) conceded defeat in the elections to municipal councils and nagar panchayats, accusing the election commission of 'facilitating' the victory of the ruling Mahayuti alliance.
A senior Goods and Services Tax (GST) officer has been arrested in connection with the alleged suicide of a junior colleague, who was reportedly facing harassment and pressure to engage in unethical practices.
Beleaguered Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde resigned from the cabinet on Tuesday, days after his close aide Walmik Karad was named as the mastermind in the murder of a village sarpanch and three months after the new Mahayuti government assumed office.
Walmik Karad, a close aide of Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde, has been charged with ordering the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, who allegedly opposed Karad's extortion bid targeting a wind energy company. According to a chargesheet filed by the state Crime Investigation Department (CID), Karad allegedly asked his associates to "eliminate" anyone who interfered with their extortion attempt. Deshmukh was abducted, tortured, and murdered in December 2024 after he attempted to stop the extortion bid. Karad and several others have been charged with murder, extortion, and organized crime.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will ask NCP minister Dhananjay Munde to step down if any evidence is found linking him to sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh's murder, his cabinet colleague Chandrakant Patil has said. A comprehensive probe is being conducted into the murder of Deshmukh, BJP leader Patil told reporters in Sangli on Sunday. Walmik Karad, an associate of minister Munde, has been arrested in an extortion case linked to the sarpanch's killing. Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, was abducted, tortured and killed on December 9 for trying to stop an extortion attempt against an energy firm operating a windmill project there. Munde, the NCP MLA from Parli in Beed district, is under attack from some of the ruling alliance colleagues and the opposition over his links with Karad. The Maharashtra government has already seized properties of the accused in sarpanch Deshmukh murder case. Stringent charges have been invoked and the probe is going on, the BJP leader said. The police machinery is actively investigating the case, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has also been formed for a probe into it, Patil said. Additionally, a committee headed by a retired judge has been constituted to oversee the inquiry, the minister said. Steps are being taken, including invocation of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against Walmik Karad and other accused, Patil pointed out. The process of seizing Karad's assets is also underway, he added.
Relatives of a woman doctor who committed suicide in Maharashtra are demanding capital punishment for the men she accused of rape and harassment in a note. The case involves a police officer and allegations of political pressure to alter medical reports.
The resignation followed a vociferous demand by the opposition for Munde's removal from the cabinet.
Amid opposition call for his resignation over the Beed sarpanch murder case, Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde on Wednesday said he is ready to quit if asked by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis or deputy CM Ajit Pawar.
A petition filed by murdered sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh's brother in the Bombay high court, seeking a direction to the Maharashtra government to remove Nationalist Congress Party minister Dhananjay Munde from the cabinet, has been withdrawn.
The Maharashtra State Commission for Women has directed Mumbai Police to take immediate action on a complaint filed by actor Prajakta Mali against MLA Suresh Dhas for making inappropriate remarks about her. Mali alleged that Dhas' comments impacted her personal and social life and led to defamatory content being circulated online. The commission has instructed the Mumbai Police Commissioner to submit a factual report on the matter. Dhas has stated that he is ready to face any consequences regarding the issue and has emphasized the need to focus on the Santosh Deshmukh murder case and crime in Beed district.
Incessant rains and water-logging slowed down traffic in Mumbai, with the IMD issuing a 'red alert', predicting very heavy showers in the city and neighbouring areas. Commuters faced water accumulation on tracks and delays in local train services.
A woman doctor of a government hospital allegedly died by suicide in Maharashtra's Satara district, leaving behind a note accusing two police personnel of rape and mental harassment, police said on Friday.
The first phase of polling for municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra was disrupted by violence and allegations of bogus voting. Clashes occurred between supporters of ruling allies BJP, NCP, and Shiv Sena. The Bombay High Court directed the SEC to postpone the counting of votes.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Monday claimed Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde met him before the state polls last year along with his associate Walmik Karad, arrested later in an extortion case linked to the murder of a sarpanch.
A suspended police sub-inspector from Beed, Maharashtra, India, has alleged that he was offered money to carry out an "encounter" of Walmik Karad, an accused in the murder case of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh. The suspended cop, Ranjeet Kasle, claims he mentioned the names of the individuals who made the offer in a local police station diary. However, a senior police official from Beed has dismissed Kasle's claims as baseless and demanded proof. Kasle was suspended earlier while serving as a sub-inspector in the local cyber crime department. Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village, was abducted and killed last December allegedly for attempting to stop extortion targeting an energy company. Karad is among eight individuals arrested in connection with the murder and charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The state Crime Investigation Department (CID) filed a chargesheet in the case last month. Kasle's claims come amidst ongoing investigations into the custodial death of Badlapur sexual assault case accused Akshay Shinde. Kasle has demanded a central government SIT to investigate Shinde's death, believing it will reveal the truth.
The slain sarpanch's brother Dhananjay Deshmukh met Jarange in Beed on Thursday, a day after Karad was sent to the custody of a Special Investigation Team of the Maharashtra police.
'A poor candidate was given a chance so that the concerns of ordinary, needy citizens could be represented.'
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has demanded the death penalty for those involved in the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, calling the crime "heinous." Shinde said that no one involved in the case, including Walmik Karad, a close aide of NCP minister Dhananjay Munde, will be spared. Deshmukh was abducted and tortured to death on December 9 after he resisted an extortion attempt targeting an energy company operating a windmill project in the area. Karad was arrested in the extortion case linked to the murder after he surrendered to police in Pune on December 31.
The police ruled out any terror link to the radio set explosion at Kalegaon village in Beed district even as one person was arrested for planting the parcel on a Maharashtra transport bus.
A video clip of three accused in an extortion case linked to the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, walking together has emerged on social media. The video also shows a suspended police officer in the group accompanying the accused. The video has sparked controversy and raised questions about the involvement of the police in the case. BJP MLA Suresh Dhas has demanded that the suspended police officer be named as a co-accused in the case and that action be taken against other police officers who have been accused of wrongdoing.
'A 14-year-old boy kept a status message in praise of Aurangzeb on a social media platform on Thursday. A complaint was received in this connection, based on which an offence was registered at Ashti police station'
'The CM's credibility is on the line.'
'All commercial and banking transactions happen in South Mumbai.'
In the second drought fatality in a span of two days, an 11-year-old boy died while fetching water from a well in drought-hit Beed district of Marathwada on Thursday.
Born as Lalita Salve in June 1988. She joined the police force in 2010 as a woman. But the cop started noticing changes in the body in 2013 and underwent medical tests, which confirmed the presence of Y chromosome.
Police on Sunday registered an FIR against unidentified persons in connection with the radio set explosion at Kalegaon village in Kaij tehsil of Maharashtra's Beed district.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday said Health Minister Suresh Shetty and Women and Child Welfare Minister Varsha Gaikwad were not allowed by the Election Commission to visit Beed district, where many cases of female foeticide have come to light recently.
The Maharashtra government would soon notify the appointment of two public prosecutors to take up the female foeticide cases of Beed district, Health Minister Suresh Shetty said on Monday.
A 28-year-old woman from Maharashtra's Beed district, infamous for high incidence of female foeticide, has registered a case of harassment against her husband and in-laws after she was allegedly tortured for years and subsequently driven out of home for having a girl child, police said on Wednesday.
The activist said leaders opposing Maratha interests would face consequences in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist wrestler's journey started in 2005 from a little known tehsil in Beed district called Patoda.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has praised the RSS for its dedicated cadre and urged his party to create a similar base committed to progressive ideas. He attributed the NCP's recent electoral setbacks to complacency and a failure to communicate its work for the OBC community. Pawar also emphasized the need for social engineering to address caste tensions and announced that 50% of the tickets for upcoming local body elections will be given to new faces.
Heavy rains in Nanded, Maharashtra, have caused severe flooding, leading to the evacuation of hundreds of residents as the Godavari and Asna rivers overflow. The Vishnupuri dam released a large amount of water, exacerbating the situation.
High nitrate levels have been found in groundwater of 440 districts across India, with 20 per cent of the samples collected exceeding the permissible nitrate concentration, the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has said in a report.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has stated that his party wants to go solo in the upcoming local body elections to strengthen its base. This statement has raised questions about the unity of the opposition INDIA bloc and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which includes Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP (SP). Raut clarified that the party has not called for the dissolution of either bloc and that the local body elections are an opportunity to empower party workers at the grassroots level. He also criticized Congress leaders for reacting to his comments without hearing the full context.
Thousands of Maratha community members have turned the area surrounding Azad Maidan in Mumbai into a camp during their agitation for quota, disrupting traffic and daily life.
