It took the administration 72 hours to transport the body of Sub-Inspector Chandrashekar Deshmukh, one of the victims of the Naxal attack in Laheri, to his village, Dhom in Satara.

The delay has earned the ire of the village and its 1,200 voters have decided to boycott the elections on Tuesday.

Deshmukh was killed on October 7, but his body reached Dhom only on October 10 after 4 pm.

In a late night bid to salvage the situation on Monday, representatives of the Satara district collectorate and some of the candidates sent teams to pacify the villagers and convince them to cast their votes on Tuesday.

Vaishali Chavan, Wai tehsildar, was rushed to Dhom at around 10 pm.

“The villagers have given us in writing that they will boycott the polls to protest the delay in the transportation of the body of Chandrashekar Deshmukh. We are trying to convince them and they may come around by Tuesday morning. The administration is ready. If anyone wishes to vote on Tuesday, they will be able to do so,” Chavan said.

Villagers say the journey could have easily been made in three-four hours in a helicopter, and by road it would have taken them 24 hours to cover the distance. At each district, the ice casing for the body had to be changed. In Nanded, the vehicle had to wait for three hours to change the ice casing for the body, which also led to the delay.

The Deshmukhs say no one from the administration came to visit them, although some of the candidates did. “We want the administration to wake up. They should assure us that this will never happen again,” said Sanjay Deshmukh, Chandrashekar’s father.

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