By Prachi Mishra
Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dhananjay Munde, also a Nationalist Congress party (NCP) leader, resigned from his post on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, amid increasing pressure over his close associate – Walmik Karad, who has been linked to the murder of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh and is facing serious allegations in the case. He claimed to be resigning for health reasons, but the cause is apparently a growing storm over the murder case, which has shocked the state.
The immediate cause of resignation was the appearance on social media of gruesome visuals related to Deshmukh’s murder. The case chargesheet is disturbing and includes videos and photographs of abduction, torture and murder of Deshmukh during December. The visuals have sparked protests and a shutdown in Beed, adding to the volume of calls for Munde’s shunting.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis confirmed that Munde had provided his resignation, which by now has been accepted and sent to the governor. Upon arriving at the Legislative Assembly, Fadnavis announced that Minister Dhananjay Munde had tendered his resignation, which he accepted and forwarded for further proceedings.
Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar also confirmed that this was done on moral grounds. Munde posted on social media that he was sad about the incident. “Upon seeing the images that emerged yesterday, I felt profoundly saddened. I have decided to resign given the principles that I have and along with my health issues”, he wrote.
According to the charge sheet, Deshmukh was abducted and tortured because he was trying to stop extortion of a windmill company. The criminals caught him by making 15 videos, snapping eight photos, and recording two video calls while torturing him. One suspect, Sudarshan Ghule, seems to be running a crime syndicate in Beed and was found to have multiple criminal cases against him. Police recovered broken pipes used in the torture, thus confirming the brutality of the attack.
Munde wanted to defend himself in the state assembly before resigning but was asked to resign following a late-night meeting between Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. Munde’s closest associate in the election campaign was among the seven accused arrested in the case, Karad. In the past, BJP leader Pankaja Munde had pointed out that Munde relied a lot on Karad while working on election operations.
Opposition leaders, including Siddhivinayak Sena (UBT) head Aaditya Thackeray, lambasted the ruling government for not acting on speed and demanded higher punitive measures. “We want to dismiss this government, not just Munde. Maharashtra has never seen such cruelty,” remarked Thackeray.
As for the vocal support in the case, BJP MLA Suresh Dhas hailed Devendra Fadnavis for securing the resignation of Munde. Meanwhile, Sandeep Kshirsagar, NCP(SP) leader and Beed MLA, demanded making Munde an accused co-party to the rising public fury in Beed.