Medad sarpanch Ganesh Kashid held after four months on the run in plot to have youth killed

Ganesh Dattatray Kashid, the sitting sarpanch of Medad village in Baramati taluka, has finally been arrested by Malegaon police. He is accused of plotting to have a young man killed because of political enmity. He had been absconding for the past four months. The arrest has caused a stir in Baramati taluka.

The police investigation has found that the case involves a plan to use minor boys, the exchange of money and country-made pistols.

The case began on June 8, 2026. That day, at Tukai Chowk on the road from Malegaon to Karhavagaj, police stopped Ganesh Tatyaram Gavade in a four-wheeler. Gavade, 20, is a resident of Karhavagaj. An unlicensed country-made pistol, a live cartridge and a khukri were recovered from him. The investigation traced the weapons to Mayur Vishnu More of Medad.

Police then questioned these men. Suspicion emerged that a plot had been hatched to eliminate a young man from Medad, Abhijit Arjun Yadav. The names of sarpanch Ganesh Kashid and Sujit Nilesh Nale of Karhavagaj also came up in the investigation.

According to police, money changed hands for the plot. The investigation found that a cheque for Rs 8 lakh, from the proceeds of the sale of Ganesh Gavade's land, was cashed through Mayur More at the PDCC Bank in Baramati. Sujit Nale, who was sitting in a Fortuner near a petrol pump in the Khandobanagar area of Baramati, was then handed Rs 5 lakh in cash and two country-made pistols, police said.

It is alleged that a plan was made to use minor boys to carry out the killing. This has made the case more serious. The role of the others involved in the plot and the source of the weapons are being investigated.

After the names of Kashid and Nale emerged, the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita were added to the case on June 12. Kashid is said to have gone into hiding as soon as he learned that a case had been registered. He kept changing hideouts to evade the police.

On Friday, October 23, at around 3 pm, a Malegaon police team laid a trap and caught him. It has also emerged that Kashid already faces 13 serious cases, including murder, attempt to murder and extortion.

The accused was produced in court, which sent him to police custody. The action was carried out by Assistant Police Inspector Kuldeep Sankpal, Sub-Inspector Devidas Salve and constables Amol Waghmare, Dnyaneshwar More and Shrikant Mane of Malegaon police station, under the supervision of Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Sandipsingh Gill, Additional Superintendent of Police Ganesh Biradar and Sub-Divisional Police Officer Chaitanya Kadam. The investigation continues, and attention now turns to when the roles of all those involved in the plot will become clear.