Muslims in Maharashtra's Massajog shun Eid celebrations to mourn slain sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh

While Muslims across India celebrated Eid on Monday with fervour, the Massajog village in Maharashtra's Beed district decided to shun all celebrations, in honour of its slain sarpanch Santhosh Deshmukh. The sarpanch was allegedly abducted, tortured and killed for resisting attempts to extort a windmill energy firm operating in the region.  The murder had triggered a political earthquake in the state with fingers pointing at NCP MLA Dhananjay Munde. 

The Muslims in Massajog instead spent the day visiting Deshmukh's family and his brother Dhananjay to mourn their leader's death and to mark their protest seeking the arrest of more accused. Dhananjay also visited the houses of Muslims, a practice followed by Santosh. 

There are over 20 to 25 Muslim families in the village. A video posted by a resident showed Muslims visiting Santosh's residence to console his bereaved family members. "The decision taken by Muslim brothers in Massajog village not to celebrate Ramadan Eid is really historical. The community members visited the Deshmukh family and consoled them. The atmosphere was emotional at this time," he wrote on Facebook along with the video.

Some of the families told reporters how Santhosh made decisions for the village, irrespective of their caste and religious affiliations. "He is no longer with us. He had promised to celebrate Eid with us last year," according to the families in Massajog. 

Meanwhile, the call to make NCP MLA Dhananjay Munde one of the accused in the murder case grew louder. Activists Anjali Damania and Manoj Jarange were at the forefront of the protest seeking to indict Munde as an accused in the brutal murder case. Damania alleged that Munde and a few other suspects are not named in the chargesheet and their call records will establish Munde's role in the crime. According to the chargesheet, the mastermind of his killing was Munde's aide Walmik Karad, who has been arrested.