2 Arrested Over Alleged Kidnap, Murder Of Village Sarpanch In Maharashtra

A village head was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by a group of persons following an enmity in Maharashtra's Beed district, police said on Tuesday.

Two person have been arrested in connection with the incident which took place in Kej area on Monday, they said.

Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh was abducted from a toll plaza located near Dongaon Fata village in Beed at around 3 pm on Monday.

While the sarpanch was crossing the toll plaza in a car along with his cousin Shivraj Deshmukh in the driver's seat, a black four-wheeler with six persons arrived there, as per the FIR.

One of the six persons then vandalised the driver's side glass window of the sarpanch's car.

Another person came to the co-driver's side, pulled Santosh Deshmukh out of the vehicle and took him to the black car while beating him up with a stick, the FIR said.

The car carrying the sarpanch then moved towards Kej.

Another car, suspected to be carrying some associates of the kidnappers, then followed the black vehicle, as per police.

Shivraj Deshmukh later approached the police with a complaint, alleging the sarpanch was abducted over a previous enmity with some persons.

The complainant also identified the person to whom the black car belonged.

The police subsequently registered a case against the alleged car owner and five other unidentified persons under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections for intentionally causing harm, voluntarily obstructing the way and abduction with the intent to murder, as per the FIR.

Later, police found a body in Daithana area of Kej and the person killed was identified as sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, as per an official.

So far, two persons have been arrested in connection with the case, Beed Superintendent of Police Avinash Bargal told PTI over phone.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)