The Maharashtra government on Wednesday formed a 10-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the murder of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, officials said.

The SIT will be headed by Crime Investigation Department's (CID) Deputy Inspector General Basavraj Teli, said an order issued by the state Home department.

Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Kej tehsil of Beed district, was abducted and brutally killed on December 9, allegedly for opposing an extortion bid by some persons who had demanded money from a windmill company.

The village residents on Wednesday morning staged 'jal samadhi' agitation seeking the arrest of the three absconding accused in the murder case.

The protest, during which some 40 men and women stood waist-deep in a lake, was called off after two hours, as district Superintendent of Police Navneet Kanwat visited the village and assured them that police will leave no stone unturned to nab the accused.

Earlier, the government had handed over the probe of the murder and the related cases of extortion and an assault on a security guard to the CID.

Out of the six accused in the murder case, the police have so far arrested Pratik Ghule, Jayram Chate and Mahesh Kedar, while Sudarshan Ghule, Sudhir Sangle and Krushna Andhale are at large.

Walmik Karad, a close aide of minister and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, was on Tuesday sent in 14-day custody of the CID after he surrendered in Pune in the extortion case registered at the Kej police station.

During the recently-held winter session of the Maharashtra legislature, the opposition had alleged that Karad was the "mastermind" of the murder, though he claimed that he was being accused falsely for political vendetta.

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