Supporters of former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator Walmik Karad, who has been accused in an extortion case related to a sarpanch’s murder in Maharashtra’s Beed district, are staging a protest in Pangri village seeking the withdrawal of the case against him.
Karad is scheduled to be produced in court on Wednesday after the police filed charges against him under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in connection with the case on Tuesday.

Some supporters of Karad, who is a close aide of NCP minister Dhananjay Munde, even climbed a mobile tower as the protests intensified in Parli tehsil of Beed district.
Karad has been accused of attempting to extort Rs 2 crore from staffers of the Avada Green Energy Company even as seven individuals were arrested in connection with the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh. One person remains at large.
Deshmukh was abducted and brutally killed on December 9, reportedly for trying to thwart the extortion attempt.
In Beed district, the situation has been tense since Tuesday with Karad’s supporters staging protests in several areas. His mother and wife Manjiri also staged a sit-in outside the Parli police station demanding Karad’s release. They alleged that he was being made a scapegoat for some people’s political ambitions after they used him to win polls.
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