Damania photos of judge playing holi with cops stirs the Beed plot | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: On Friday, activist Anjali Damania posted photographs and a video on her social media feed alleging that the men seen playing Holi inside a housing society compound included the additional sessions court judge hearing the case about the killing of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh and two of the policemen who have been suspended for dereliction of duty in the matter.

Damania posted two pictures and a two-second video on X saying, “Please verify these pictures but as per the information I have received police sub-inspector Rajesh Patil who was suspended in Santosh Deshmukh murder case and police inspector Prashant Mahajan who was sent on a compulsory leave in the same case, can be seen celebrating Holi. But with whom? Along with them is district and session court judge Sudhir Bhajipale, who is hearing Deshmukh murder case,” she wrote.

“Now, if the judge is playing Holi with the officers who were trying to protect the accused, then this is absolutely wrong,” Damania wrote drawing the government’s attention. To be sure while they are photographed as part of a group the three men are not playing colour with one another. HT has also not been able to independently establish the veracity of these picture or even when they were taken. HT could not reach out to Kej MCOCA additional sessions judge Sudhir Bhajipale for his comment.

In the last few weeks, before his resignation Anjali Damania had been leading a campaign against Beed guardian minister Dhananjay Deshmukh and his aide Walmik Karad who has been arrested in the murder of Santosh Deshmukh. She has been demanding the reopening of all previous cases against Karad.

When contacted, an official from the chief minister’s office said they had no comment to offer at this point while Beed superintendent of police Navneet Kanwat said, “The people that can be seen in the photographs and the videos all have private lives and we also don’t know whether these are from today or from a previous year.”

Deshmukh, the headman of Massajog village in Beed in central Maharashtra was abducted, tortured, and killed on December 9 following his attempts to foil an extortion bid at the site of a wind energy company. Eight accused, including the locally-powerful Munde aide Walmik Karad have been arrested.

After the CID’s Special investigative team filed its charge sheet, SP Kanwat had transferred several police officers for alleged links with the accused. Prashant Mahajan and Rajesh Patil allegedly seen playing Holi with the judge were among them. At the time of going to press neither of the two cops were available for comment.