Mumbai, Jan 2: The NCP-SP and Congress on Thursday took a swipe at Beed police asking whether five new beds have been ordered for the comfort of Walmik Karad, a close associate of NCP minister Dhananjay Munde from Beed, who was wanted in an extortion case linked to the murder of Santosh Deshmukh, who surrendered before the CID in Pune on Tuesday.

An extortion case has been registered against Karad who has been remanded in police custody for 14 days by Kej court in Beed district.

The police administration subsequently clarified that they were cots for the staff.

NCP-SP legislator Rohit Pawar in his post on X said, “There are reports of five new beds being ordered at the police station. Although the administration has clarified that new cots have been ordered for the staff, there are many questions like, how come the beds were suddenly ordered today? If new beds have been ordered for the staff, the same level of promptness should be shown for the staff in all police stations across the state.

“In addition, consideration should be given to whether mattresses, pillows, fans, and ACs can also be installed.”

On the other hand, senior Congress legislator Vijay Wadettiwar took a dig at the MahaYuti government asking whether the five cots ordered for the Beed police station were for Walmik Karad being covered under the ‘Ladli Aaropi Yojana (beloved accused scheme)’.

“There are not so many coincidences in the movies also as are witnessed in the police administration’s move to order five beds when Walmik Karad has been sentenced to 14 days’ police custody.

“This is the beginning of pampering the accused. Gradually he will get everything like TV, AC, and food from a five-star hotel,” remarked Wadettiwar.

“Does this government want to take fair action against Walmik Karad? If it wants to, then the investigation should be conducted outside Beed district. Will it investigate the person who has kept the police in its grip till now or will it be a service? The government should either stop pretending to take action against Karad and if it wants to take action, it should be done seriously,” said Wadettiwar.

“Whether it is the murder of Santosh Deshmukh or a case under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), no case has been registered in Karad yet, which raises questions about this investigation,” he commented.

The state government on Wednesday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by IPS officer Basavaraj Teli to investigate the brutal killing of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh from Beed district which took place in December last year.

Teli is the head of the Economic Offences Wing of the CID. All the officers in the SIT are from Beed district.

The current investigating officer DYSP Anil Gujar will also be in the probe team.

Apart from Gujar, the other members of the SIT include Vijay Singh Shivlal Jonwal, assistant police inspector, Local Crime Branch, Beed, Mahesh Vighne, sub inspector, Local Crime Branch, Beed, Anand Shankar Shinde, sub inspector Kej, Tulshiram Jagtap, assistant sub inspector, Manoj Rajendra Wagh, police constable, Chandrakant S Kalkute, police naik, Balasaheb Devidas Akhabare, police naik and Santosh Bhagwanrao Gitte, police constable.

The Santosh Deshmukh murder case is currently being investigated by the CID and so far more than 150 people have been questioned in this case.

The investigation is being conducted in connection with the links between the extortion of Rs 2 crore and the CID team is checking all the call records, CDRs on a war footing.

New Delhi, Jan 2: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday commended the Maharashtra government for its initiatives in driving development in Maoist-affected areas of the state.

Taking to social media platform X, the Prime Minister wrote, “I laud the Maharashtra Government’s efforts to ensure all-round development in remote and Maoist-affected areas. This will certainly boost the ‘Ease of Living’ and pave the way for even more progress. A special congratulations to my sisters and brothers of Gadchiroli and the surrounding areas!”

The statement comes after 11 Maoists, including a senior leader, surrendered on Wednesday in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who spent New Year’s Day in Gadchiroli district.

Among the surrendered Maoists were eight women and three men, including two couples. They carried rewards amounting to over Rs 1 crore in Maharashtra, with additional bounties from the Chhattisgarh government.

The group included Tarakka, the head of the Dandakaranya Zonal Committee and the wife of Bhupati, a prominent Maoist leader. Tarakka had been part of the Naxalite movement for 34 years.

The surrendered individuals also included three division committee members, one deputy commander, and two area committee members. They were provided financial assistance totalling Rs 86 lakh to support their rehabilitation.

In the last year, 24 Maoists have been killed and 18 arrested in Maharashtra. Over the past six months, 27 hardcore Maoists have joined the mainstream. CM Fadnavis highlighted that the northern part of Gadchiroli has been freed from Maoism, and efforts are ongoing to eliminate it from the southern region as well.

“In the last four years, not a single youth has joined the Maoist movement. As many as 11 villages have banned Naxalites, and the C-60 soldiers have earned the trust of the people,” said Fadnavis, stressing that residents now believe in achieving justice through the Indian Constitution rather than Maoist ideology.

CM Fadnavis announced that Gadchiroli is on the path to becoming a “Steel City” with support from Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He assured that surrendered Maoists would be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.

The Chief Minister inaugurated various development projects during his visit, including a bus service from Aheri to Gardewada, a green mining project, and several initiatives by Lloyds Metals. These projects involve significant investments — Rs 400 crore worth DII Plant at Konsari will provide 700 jobs; Rs 3,000 crore worth Pellet Plant and Slurry Pipeline will provide 1,000 jobs; Rs 2,700 crore Iron Ore Grinding Plant at Hedri, Etapalli will provide 1,500 jobs; and Rs 20 crore Vanya Garment Unit which will provide 600 jobs.

Fadnavis also launched the Lloyds Kali Ammal Hospital and Lloyds Raj Vidyaniketan CBSE School, which will educate 1,200 students. He inaugurated residences for police, a gymkhana, and a kindergarten.

Fadnavis interacted with villagers and security personnel in Pengunda, an extremely remote area, reaffirming the government’s commitment to bringing development to the region.

Mumbai, Jan 1: Maharashtra’s Information and Technology Minister Ashish Shelar has announced that the state government will soon come out with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy to shape the future of industries, businesses and governance and recognise its transformative potential.

He has directed the department to draft the AI policy.

Minister Shelar instructed the department that the era of AI technology has begun and Maharashtra must seize the opportunity to become a leader in this space.

“By leveraging AI, we can attract more industries and businesses, create employment opportunities for the youth and position Maharashtra as a formidable player,” said the Minister during his meeting with the department officers.

“The India AI Mission, launched in March this year with an allocation of Rs 10,372 crore focuses on advancing AI capabilities across the nation with special allocations for the India AI Datasets Platform, Application Development initiatives, Graphic Processing Units, India AI Innovation Centre, Future Skills Programme and financing startups in the AI space. It is important to align Maharashtra’s AI aspirations with these national efforts so that the state emerges as a leader in the AI revolution,” said Shelar.

According to the Minister, the Central government plans to start the collection and aggregation of non-personal datasets to build a comprehensive database that will power the India AI Datasets Platform from January 2025. This will enable seamless access to startups, companies, academics and researchers to develop applications, interface with language models and offer specialized services.

“It is important that Maharashtra works towards positioning itself at the forefront of India’s technological advancement while contributing to the nation’s vision of becoming a global AI leader,” said Shelar.

Minister Shelar’s statement comes after the state body MITRA, which has been established on the lines of NITI Aayog, has recently recommended the development of sovereign AI with the establishment of a joint government and private sector company with 49 per cent – 51 per cent equity holding through a competitive selection process involving credible IT companies. IT firms specialising in AI, machine learning (ML) and Quantum Computing will have free access to large, high-quality, machine-reachable public datasets for the first two years. It has emphasised the need for establishing an Investment Fund to finance AI and Quantum Computing startups.