Nationalist Congress Party leader Dhananjay Munde resigned as a Maharashtra minister on Tuesday amid growing calls for him to step down after his aide Walmik Karad was named as an accused person in the murder of a sarpanch named Santosh Deshmukh.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Munde cited health reasons. However, he also said that he had been pained by the purported photos that circulated online on Monday showing Deshmukh being assaulted. The photos were part of the chargesheet in the murder case.

“It has been my firm demand since day one that the accused in the brutal murder of the late Santosh Deshmukh...should be given the strictest punishment,” he added.

The Hindu quoted Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar as saying that Munde had resigned on moral grounds. Munde is a leader of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party faction.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that he accepted Munde’s resignation.

Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village, was abducted and killed on December 9 allegedly for opposing an attempt by some persons to extort Rs 2 crore from a windmill company in Beed district.

Deshmukh’s body was found on a road near his village. The post-mortem indicated that he had died because of haemorrhage and shock caused by several injuries.

On December 31, Karad, who was wanted in the extortion case linked to the sarpanch’s murder, surrendered before the police. He had claimed at the time that he was being framed due to political vendetta.

Karad, a former Nationalist Congress Party corporator, is a member of the Beed district planning committee representing the Ajit Pawar faction, according to The Indian Express.

Munde is an MLA from Parli, a family stronghold. Parli is located in the Beed district, of which Munde was the guardian minister until he was replaced in January.

Accusing Munde of having ties with Karad, the Opposition had demanded the state minister’s resignation, citing the need for an impartial investigation. Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Suresh Dhas and ally Ramdas Athawale had backed calls for Munde to resign.

Munde had said earlier that there are “hundreds of workers” who work with him and that Karad was merely one of them.

On December 20, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home affairs portfolio, ordered a judicial investigation into Deshmukh’s murder. Fadnavis had also transferred the case to Beed’s district superintendent of police.

Earlier on Tuesday, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule had demanded action “against the forces that are being repeatedly mentioned in this matter”.

“News channels have aired photos of the late Santosh Deshmukh being beaten,” Sule said on social media. “No sensitive person will be left without anger when looking at these photos. One can imagine how brutally this murder must have been committed. This incident and its cruelty are extremely disturbing and a stain on humanity.”

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MLA Aaditya Thackeray said that Munde's resignation was not the solution. “This government should be dismissed,” he told reporters, adding that the law and order situation in Maharashtra was “terrible” and that “no one is safe”.