Maharashtra: Leftist leader and The Wire contributor suspected of killing mother surrenders after a week of the manhunt

In a sensational case involving the murder of a veteran Left feminist leader, her son has surrendered before the police after almost a week of manhunt. The incident took place in Dhule in north Maharashtra. The murder is reported to have occurred over a property dispute.

Saroj Kamble, a leader of the Satyashodhak Marxwadi Chalwal Aghadi (Truth-finder Marxist Movement Front) founded by Comrade Sharad Patil and the ‘researcher’ of non-Brahmin feminism, died in mysterious circumstances on June 5 in Dhule. Her husband, Prof Ranjit Pardeshi, is also a Marxist leader, and her son Inayat Pardeshi also claims to be a liberal ‘thinker’ and writes regularly for the Left-leaning portal The Wire. Saroj Kamble’s death raised many doubts among the party workers as Inayat was too anxious to carry out her last rites.

A worker had called the police, who initially refused to carry out Saroj’s post-mortem as they deemed it a family matter. However, the workers pressed the matter, forcing the police to take action. It took a mediation by the police superintendent himself for police to remove the departed woman’s body from the mortuary van and carry out a post-mortem. It was on June 6 that the last rites were performed after the post-mortem was carried out.

Interestingly, the news of Saroj’s death appeared neither in the state media nor in local dailies. Only a local portal, Newstown, followed up with the case. It also published reports, with evidence, that her son Inayat tortured her inhumanely. This instigated the fear in Inayat’s mind of being arrested for torturing and killing his 66-year-old mother.

Finally, after about a week, Inayat Pardeshi took his ailing father, Ranjit, and absconded on June 15. Since then, the police have been on the lookout for him. Prof Ranjit Pardeshi has a chronic illness and has been bedridden for months. He even can’t walk on his own. Therefore, Inayat taking him and hiding at an unidentified place raised doubts about his safety.

Saroj Kamble’s 81-year-old sister, Sudha Sukdev Katkar, had filed a complaint at Azadnagar police station in Dhule on June 17, based on which the police had registered a case of culpable homicide (IPC section 304) against Inayat. Police had formed two teams which went to Nashik and Malegaon for the investigation but returned empty-handed.

Finally, Inayat surrendered before the Azadnagar police on Wednesday. He was arrested immediately, and his medical examination was carried out. His father, Ranjit, who is seriously ill, was admitted to a private hospital in Nashik.

According to the police investigation, Saroj Kamble, a retired employee of Punjab National Bank, was planning to get remarried. This has unsettled Inayat, who feared he wouldn’t get the entire share of the property if his mother remarried. Therefore, he physically tortured her, beating her with his hands and fists.

Meanwhile, the Left-liberal cabal that always speaks of getting justice for the downtrodden and victims was silent over the case. None from the circle raised even a question over how the case was being hushed. None even asked for justice for Saroj Kamble, which exposed their hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, the incident has invited reactions from all circles, especially ridicule over the hypocrisy of liberal echelons. Veteran social media influencer Shefali Vaidya tweeted, “Inayat Pardeshi, a young ‘thinker’ and communist writer for @thewire_in  (The Wire) who used to write on topics like patriarchy, women’s rights etc etc, tortured and kiIIed his own mother for property! Irony just died and wrapped itself in a communist flag!”

Disha Pinky Shaikh, a Marxist leader, has also condemned the murder and said that the matter needs to be investigated thoroughly. She has also said that strict action should be taken against anyone who tries to interfere in the investigation.