The Maharashtra government has constituted a single-member committee of retired High Court judge ML Tahiliani to conduct a judicial inquiry into the murder of Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in Beed district. Officials gave this information on Thursday.
Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Beed’s Masajog village, was abducted, allegedly tortured and killed on December 9.
Preliminary investigation indicates that Deshmukh had tried to disrupt an extortion attempt from an energy company operating a windmill project in the area.
The police have arrested many people in the murder case. Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Deshmukh’s aide Valmik Karad has been arrested in a related extortion case and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the sarpanch’s murder took him into seven-day custody on Wednesday.
According to the government order issued on Wednesday, the judicial committee will find out whether any person or institution is responsible for Deshmukh’s death.
The committee will also assess the adequacy of police and district administration resources during the incident, evaluate the action taken by law enforcement agencies and identify any officials who may be accountable.
The committee has also been tasked with suggesting measures to prevent similar incidents in future, the order said.
The government on Wednesday also constituted a one-member committee of retired judge V L Achalia to conduct a judicial inquiry into the custodial death of Parbhani protester Somnath Suryavanshi.
The committee will investigate the sequence and causes of events related to the custodial death of the Dalit protestor. According to officials, the committee will also examine the steps taken by the Parbhani police to handle the situation during the violence.
Suryavanshi (35) died in judicial custody at a government hospital in Parbhani on December 15. A few days ago, he was arrested in connection with the violence in Parbhani over the insult to the replica of the Constitution kept inside glass.
Police had said that Suryavanshi died after falling ill.
According to the order, both the committees will have to submit their findings to the government within three to six months.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced a judicial inquiry into both the incidents after discussing them in the winter session of the state legislature last month.
