Mumbai, Feb 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Maharashtra government has appointed senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam as the Special Public Prosecutor in the case relating to the brutal murder of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh from Beed district.
Advocate Balasaheb Kolhe has been appointed as the Assistant Special Public Prosecutor.
This was announced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in his post on X while attaching the government notification in this regard.
“Senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam has been appointed as the Special Public Prosecutor by the Maharashtra government in the Santosh Deshmukh murder case in Beed district, while Adv Balasaheb Kolhe has been appointed as the Assistant Special Public Prosecutor,” said Chief Minister Fadnavis who also holds the portfolio of Home Ministry.
The government’s move comes at a time when the Santosh Deshmukh family along with the villagers of Massajog had launched a food boycott agitation Tuesday seeking justice and also the immediate arrest of Krishna Andhale, the seventh accused in the murder, who is still at large for now over two and half months.
The government has accepted the demand by the Deshmukh family and the villagers for a special prosecutor to effectively plead the case in court.
The government sources said that Nikam’s appointment will help to further expedite the ongoing investigation into the murder of Santosh Deshmukh and the filing of the chargesheet.
The government’s move is crucial as three agencies including the state CID, special investigation team and judicial committee are conducting investigations into the killing of Santosh Deshmukh.
In addition, the chorus is increasing from ruling and opposition parties and various social organisations for the resignation of NCP minister Dhananjay Munde whose close associate Walmik Karad has been booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act in connection with an extortion case linked to the murder of Santosh Deshmukh.
In his reaction, Santosh Deshmukh’s brother Dhananjay Deshmukh said, “With the appointment of Ujjwal Nikam, now the SIT and CID officers will get help in the speedy completion of ongoing probes. If there are any shortcomings, these lawyers will help the probe agencies to address them. The charge sheet will be filed soon.”
On the other hand, Santosh Deshmukh’s daughter Vaibhavi Deshmukh said, “The government has accepted one demand and we hope it will accept other demands. I will do whatever I can to get justice for us because my father was everything to me. If we cannot get justice for him, we will not be able to forgive ourselves. On one hand, I want to get justice for my father and on the other hand, I also want to pass my exam. Both things are important to me. But more than that, getting justice for my father is more important to me.”
Nikam started his legal practice in the Jalgaon district. He represented the government in the 1993 Mumbai blast case. He rose to fame from this case. After that, Nikam also represented the government in the murder cases of T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar in 1997 and BJP leader Pramod Mahajan in 2006.
Nikam proudly says that during his career, he played a key role in getting 30 convicts sentenced to death and over 600 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment. Some of these death sentences have been challenged in higher courts. Nikam had also argued for the government in the notorious Khairlanji case in 2006. Four members of the same family were brutally murdered in Khairlanji village of Bhandara district and it was also alleged that two women were stripped naked and paraded.
After this, he also argued for the Shakti Mill gang rape case, as well as the Kopardi rape and murder case. After the death sentence was given to Ajmal Kasab, the accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Nikam’s name became a household name.
Nikam was fielded by the BJP from the North Central Mumbai constituency against Congress nominee Varsha Gaikwad in the Lok Sabha elections. However, Nikam lost by 16,514 votes.
Source: IANS
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