Bhima-Koregaon case: Panel to resume functioning from August; to ask Pawar to depose

The two-member commission probing the Bhima-Koregaon violence is set to resume its functioning from August 2 after a gap of 16 months. The commission is planning to start the probe with the deposition of witnesses, including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, to complete the hearing before reaching on to a conclusion.

The proceedings of the commission were stopped owing to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak last March, when it had completed the deposition of 35 witnesses in relation to the caste-based riots that had occurred in February 2018.

VV Palnitkar, the secretary of the commission, said, “We have decided to start the proceedings from August 2, provided that the state government gives us facilities to conduct virtual hearings, considering the pandemic situation. We are also waiting for an extension order from the state as the tenure of the commission needs to be officially extended.”

Earlier, the commission was asked to complete its inquiry by April 8, 2020. The state government is likely to grant extension to the commission till December.

Lawyer Ashish Satpute, representing the commission, said, “We were deposing witnesses from Pune when the pandemic had hit the state and proceedings had to be stopped. We will start from there. Thereafter, witnesses from Mumbai will be asked to depose. The list also includes the name of NCP chief [Pawar],” he said.

The panel had decided to allow the veteran leader to depose before it in response to an affidavit in which Pawar had expressed his willingness to do so. In his October 2018 affidavit, Pawar had said he was not in a position to blame any particular organisation for the violence. But on February 18, 2020, Pawar alleged that right-wing activists Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote were responsible for creating animosity among locals ahead of the 200th anniversary celebrations of the 1818 Battle of Koregaon at the war memorial in Pune district, which led to violence on January 1, 2018.

To probe the riots, the previous Devendra Fadnavis government had set up a commission on January 1, 2018. Pune Police had filed cases against activists linked to the Elgar Parishad conclave held on December 31, 2017, accusing them of having Maoist links and inciting violence.