The Maharashtra CID on Tuesday filed charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against Walmik Karad, a close aide of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister Dhananjay Munde, in an extortion case related to the murder of a sarpanch in the Beed district. After constant pressure from the family of the murdered sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh and various political parties, the Maharashtra government asked the CID to charge Karad under MCOCA. Karad, who had been in police custody for 14 days following his surrender, was granted magisterial custody by the sessions court in Parli on Tuesday. The court rejected the request to extend Karad’s police custody. As his lawyers immediately moved to file his bail application, the CID stepped in and filed an application to charge Karad under MCOCA in Deshmukh’s murder. The court accepted the application and issued a production warrant against Karad. He will now be produced before the court on Wednesday where the police will seek his custody. Before Karad was charged under MCOCA, his supporters staged protests in Parli, blocking …