Latur, Mar 4 (PTI) Activists of a Maratha outfit staged a protest in Maharashtra's Latur district on Tuesday, demanding that NCP leader Dhananjay Munde be named co-accused in the murder case of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh.

Members of the Sakal Maratha community staged a sit-in agitation at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Chowk in Latur, shouting slogans against Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Munde.

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Protesters demanded capital punishment for the accused involved in the killing and called for Munde to be named as a co-accused in the murder case.

Slain sarpanch Deshmukh belonged to the Maratha community, while most of the accused hail from the Vanjari community, dominant in Beed district.

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Munde, the state food and civil supplies minister, resigned from the state cabinet on Tuesday, days after his close aide Walmik Karad was named as the mastermind in the Beed sarpanch murder case.

Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh was abducted, tortured and murdered on December 9, last year, allegedly for attempting to stop an extortion bid targeting an energy company in the district.

The opposition doubled down on its demand for Munde's resignation after gory photos and court chargesheet details related to the killing surfaced, revealing the brutalities committed before the murder.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)