A special investigation team (SIT) will probe the alleged murder of journalist Shashikant Warishe in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district, the state government announced on Saturday.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde called Warishe's murder earlier this week an attack on democracy even as the opposition claimed that the government was not serious about the worsening law and order situation.

Warishe (48) was mowed down by an SUV allegedly driven by land dealer Pandharinath Amberkar at Rajapur, some 440 km from Mumbai, on February 6. He died in hospital the next day.

Amberkar, arrested for murder, allegedly used to threaten any person who opposed land acquisition for a proposed refinery in the area.

An article written by Warishe against Amberkar had appeared in a local Marathi newspaper on the morning of the incident.

Speaking in Kolhapur, CM Shinde termed the killing an “attack on democracy” and vowed that the guilty shall not be spared.

Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis said an SIT headed by a high-ranking official will probe the case.

In Nashik, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said that Warishe's murder was a serious issue and "accidents and murders are on the rise in the state." "The law and order situation in the state is worsening. There are doubts as to how seriously those having the responsibility for law and order situation take this,” he added.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut called Warishe's death a “political murder” and demanded that the government provide aid of Rs 50 lakh to his family.

“He died due to the government's negligence. There is pressure on the police to put pressure on those who oppose the setting up of a refinery in the area,” he said.

The Rajya Sabha member also claimed he had received phone calls asking him not to take up the issue.

Several hundred journalists on Saturday held a protest in Rajapur city against Warishe's murder.

Activists of the Barsu Solgaon Panchakroshi Refinery Virodhi Sanghatna, which has been opposing the proposed refinery, and members of the Kunabi Samaj, a community organization, also took part in the protest.

The protesters demanded, among other things, that the refinery project should be cancelled.

Amberkar, the accused in the case, had put his name on every sale deed along with 30 to 40 purchasers of lands sold in the area and there should be an inquiry into all these transactions, they said.

The Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemical project, earlier proposed to be built at Nanar village in Ratnagiri district in coastal Konkan, was scrapped before the 2019 polls at the instance of the Shiv Sena, the then alliance partner of the ruling BJP.

The Union government had last year hinted at its revival at another location.

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