Summoned, Pawar to depose on Apr 4

PAWAR HAD FILED AN AFFIDAVIT BEFORE THE COMMISSION, HEADED BY FORMER BOMBAY HIGH COURT CHIEF JUSTICE J N PATEL, ON OCTOBER 8, 2018

PUNE: The Koregaon Bhima Inquiry Commission has summoned NCP chief Sharad Pawar to depose before it as a witness in the 2018 caste-violence case, the panel’s lawyer Ashish Satpute said here on Wednesday.

Pawar will have to appear before the commission in Mumbai, as the scheduled hearing by the commission was shifted there in view of coronavirus outbreak.

The hearing, which was scheduled to be held in the last week of March, will now be held between March 30 and April 4.

Apart from Pawar, the commission has also summoned then SP (Pune Rural) Suvez Haq, then Additional SP, Sandip Pakhale, then Additional Commissioner, Pune, Ravindra Sengaonkar, and then Collector Saurabh Rao, Satpute added.

NCP spokesperson and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik said in Mumbai that Pawar will appear before the commission on April 4 after Parliament session gets over. “The commission had asked Pawar for a convenient date for appearing before it. Accordingly, he will appear before the panel on April 4,” Malik told reporters here. Pawar had filed an affidavit before the commission, headed by former Bombay high court chief justice J N Patel, on October 8, 2018. In February, social group Vivek Vichar Manch member Sagar Shinde filed an application before the commission, seeking summoning of Pawar in view of statements made by him in the media about the 2018 caste violence.

In his plea, Shinde cited a press conference of Pawar held on February 18. At the press meet, Pawar alleged that right-wing activists Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide had created a “different” atmosphere in Koregaon-bhima, located on outskirts of Pune city, and its vicinity.

Pawar had stated it was unfortunate that the government (BJP was in power at the time of the violence) and law and enforcement authorities failed to protect the interest of the common man in Koregaon Bhima and its vicinity. He had stated that the role of “right- wing” forces behind the violence at Koregaon Bhima cannot be ruled out. “However, concrete evidence in this regard can be gathered only by law enforcement agencies, he said in the affidavit. Gathering of anti-social elements indicated the failure of law enforcement agencies, he had said.