Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry: Officer deposes as witness, questioned about ‘bandh’ letter

His chief examination was recorded by Advocate Ashish Satpute, lawyer of the two-member commission headed by retired justice J N Patel probing the violence in which one person was killed and several others were injured.

Advocate Kiran Channe questioned Pakhale about the Koregaon Bhima village ‘bandh’ letter submitted to the Shikrapur police station on December 31, 2017. He said the constable who received the letter did not inform the senior officers. Pakhale added that the SP had initiated an inquiry and taken action against the constable. Pakhale said he got to know about the letter on January 2, 2108. Advocate Channe said it was a serious lapse on the part of police.

The letter addressed to inspector of Shikrapur police station bears the signature of then Koregaon Bhima sarpanch Sangita Kamble. It also has names of then deputy sarpanch Ganesh Phadtare as proposer and Yogesh Narhari Gavhane as the person who seconded it. The letter says Koregaon Bhima village bandh was called to maintain law and order in view of the incident (over putting up board with disputed history on the intervening night of December 28 and 29, 2017) at the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Samadhi area in Vadhu Budruk village.

The letter was drafted by Sagar Gavhane, a clerk at the Koregaon Bhima gram panchayat. As per his affidavit, on December 30, villagers expressed their concern over the dispute. Next day, Phadtare allegedly asked him to type the ‘bandh’ letter. Yogesh Gavhane was not present but Phadtare made Sagar type his name. Sagar said the letter was backdated as December 31 was a Sunday. He also stated that the panchayat was open on January 1, 2018 and ‘bandh’ was not observed.