Seer stands with slain sarpanch’s family after relatives confront him

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Two days after Namdev Shastri, the chief seer of Bahgwangad, said the "mentality" of Santosh Deshmukh's killers needed to be understood, the family of the slain Massajog sarpanch met him on Sunday, questioning his stand.
In a face-to-face interaction with Vaibhavi and Dhananjay — the murdered sarpanch's daughter and brother, respectively — Shastri said he stands with the Deshmukh family. Vaibhavi and Dhananjay produced several documents before Shastri that purportedly showed the criminal records of Deshmukh's attackers. They also shared the public work done by Santosh Deshmukh as a sarpanch and the different awards won by the Massajog gram panchayat under his leadership.
Vaibhavi questioned Shastri by bringing up his past remarks, where he referred to Santosh Deshmukh allegedly slapping the attackers a few days before he was killed, and the need to understand the mentality of the attackers.
"Dada (Shastri), you are a big personality. We have come here to seek justice. When you refer to my father slapping them (attackers), pay heed also to how brutally he was killed. Not a single body part was intact after the attack. What would be our mindset now?" she asked.
Dhananjay told Shastri that his brother went to save a Dalit man who was assaulted by the attackers first. "We want justice and do not want casteism to play any role," he said.
After listening to both, Shastri said he and Bhagwangad stand with the Deshmukh family. "The real culprits should be punished instead of giving a caste colour to the killing of Santosh Deshmukh. We are not going to protect those who are guilty," he said. Shastri had previously said that it is worth noting that the attackers too had been beaten up earlier.
The Deshmukh family travelled around 111 km from Massajog in the Beed district to Bhagwangad in the Ahilyanagar district to meet Shastri.
Meanwhile, quota activist Manoj Jarange also stepped up his attack on Shastri, saying that those holding respectful positions are indulging in casteism.