The Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry has suspended all its future hearings in Mumbai till the Maharashtra government provides them a suitable location to conduct the hearings.
The two-member commission headed by retired Justice J N Patel was formed by the government for probing into the cause of Koregaon Bhima violence of January 1, 2018, in which one person was killed and several others were injured.
V V Palnitkar, Secretary, Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry, said, “The place currently available for holding the hearings in Mumbai is small and not sufficient for carrying out work at a time when Covid-19 norms are still in place. The Commission had written to the government a few times even in the past seeking bigger places like Sahyadri guest house or Yeshwantrao Chavan Auditorium. Meetings with government officials were also held for this purpose as we want to call some important witnesses for hearings in Mumbai. But no suitable place was provided. So it is decided to suspend future hearings till a proper place is made available in Mumbai.”
The Commission was initially given four months to submit its report, but its tenure had to be repeatedly extended to allow it to complete its work. The Commission can now submit the report by December 31, 2021.
“Commission has been conducting hearings in Pune. Recent hearings in Pune took place in Pune between October 18 and October 23. There were plans to conduct hearings in Mumbai from November 8 to 12. But further hearings have been suspended due to unavailability of a proper place,” said Ashish Satpute, the lawyer for the commission.
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The Commission has, during its recent hearing in Pune, issued summons to IPS officers Param Bir Singh and Rashmi Shukla to appear as witnesses. Both were required to respond to the summons by November 8.
Shukla was the Pune Police Commissioner when the Koregaon Bhima violence had taken place and is currently posted in Hyderabad as the Additional Director General of CRPF (South Zone). Param Bir, a former Mumbai police chief who is currently untraceable, was in August 2018, the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), when he had addressed a press conference releasing documents seized from the persons held in the Elgaar Parishad case for alleged links with the banned CPI (Maoist).
Elgaar Parishad, a conclave, was held in the jurisdiction of the Pune city police on December 31, 2017, ahead of the 200th anniversary of the battle of Koregaon Bhima.