Santosh Deshmukh was the Sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed. As a dynamic leader, he enjoyed the admiration of the youth and the support of his fellow villagers. On December 9, around 3:30 PM, eight men abducted Deshmukh and tortured him for three hours, ultimately leading to his murder. While torturing him, the attackers recorded the ordeal on their phones, made two WhatsApp video calls, and took photos. They then shared this material on a WhatsApp group, sending a chilling message: mess with goons and you’ll meet a similar fate.

An energy company, Avaada, had proposed a wind energy project in Massajog village. Valmik Kharad, a close aide of Maharashtra’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Dhananjay Munde, reportedly demanded a ransom of Rs. 2 crores from the company. When the company refused to pay, Sudarshan Ghule—an associate of Kharad—publicly threatened the company’s officials. Deshmukh witnessed this incident and, believing that the project would create much-needed employment for the villagers, reassured the company that no ransom was necessary. His intervention is said to have angered Kharad and his associates, ultimately leading to his abduction and murder.

Amid these turbulent developments, the political landscape of Beed came sharply into focus. Dhananjay Munde, a well-known political figure in the region, had recently won re-election by a significant margin—a victory that underscored his considerable influence in Beed. Munde’s strong political presence is further magnified by his support base in Beed and neighboring Jalna districts, historically recognized as part of Marathwada. This region, once defined by the legacy of Marathi-speaking communities during the era of the Nizam, has recently become a flashpoint in emerging caste-based tensions. Allegations have surfaced suggesting that Deshmukh’s identity as a Maratha may have fueled underlying resentments, with opposition parties and even Deshmukh’s own family questioning whether Munde, whose support comes largely from the Vanjari community among other groups, had any foreknowledge of the crime. Revelations on Deshmukh’s murder were first made publicly by NCP leader and MLA Jitendra Awhad during the Assembly’s winter session, with BJP MLA Suresh Dhas echoing similar concerns.

Shortly after the outcry over these events, Munde resigned from his post, citing both health concerns and a call of conscience. Reports indicate that the decision came after a meeting the previous day, when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar urged him to step down.

During the abduction, Deshmukh was brutally attacked near a toll plaza. Goons in two vehicles hurled stones at his car, battered him with wooden sticks, and forcibly dragged him into a Scorpio. Later, he was further beaten with an iron pipe and clutch wire, causing him to lose roughly one and a half liters of blood. Disturbing photographs emerged, depicting a stripped and severely beaten Deshmukh, with one haunting image showing an assailant laughing while clutching his clothes—a grim reminder of the inhumanity of the attack.

While this level of depravity is shocking, Santosh Deshmukh’s murder serves as another stark example of how perilous the path of fighting injustice has become. Mukesh Chandrakar, a journalist from Chhattisgarh who provided regional coverage of his city, Bustar, and ran a YouTube channel where he regularly broke news on local scandals, was another victim of such brutality. Chandrakar was well known and had accumulated tremendous goodwill in his village due to his bravery in exposing corruption. Although his own family was displaced by naxal violence, he managed to establish a rapport with naxalites and often acted as an intermediary between them and others. In 2021, Mukesh risked his life to rescue CRPF Cobra Commando Rakeshwar Singh Manhas from naxalite captivity by riding a bike with Manhas behind him, ensuring the trooper’s safe return.

In a blog published on NDTV, editor Anurag Dwary recounts how Mukesh’s drive originated in the relief shelters where he and his family once lived after being displaced by the naxalite insurgency. He witnessed firsthand how Salwa Judum leaders-turned-contractors profited from substandard rations supplied to camps. His YouTube channel, Bastar Junction, reached over 1.65 lakh subscribers, and at NDTV, Mukesh reported fearlessly on issues ranging from tribal migration to crumbling infrastructure and government corruption. In his final report, he exposed a road in Bijapur riddled with 35 potholes per kilometer, highlighting the negligence of corrupt contractors. This report led to swift government action, but ultimately cost him his life.

Mukesh’s report on the poor condition of a road in Bijapur, which aired on NDTV on December 25, 2024, prompted a government inquiry. The contractor responsible for the road was his cousin, Suresh Chandrakar. Mukesh was last seen on the evening of January 1. His elder brother, Yukesh, filed a missing person report the following day, and mobile tracking later located his body inside a septic tank on Suresh Chandrakar’s property in Chattanpara Basti on January 3 in Bastar district. According to a post-mortem report, Chandrakar was struck with a heavy object and sustained severe injuries to his head, chest, back, and stomach; his body was identified by a distinctive tattoo on his hand.

Though geographically many miles apart, the stories of Santosh Deshmukh and Mukesh Chandrakar converge on a common theme: the heavy price of confronting injustice. Be it Maharashtra or Chhattisgarh, truth seems to be at its most vulnerable. The stories of of Mukesh and Santosh brutal fates cast a long shadow over the fight for truth, compelling us to ask whether a society that silences its defenders of justice is one we truly want to live in.