Koregaon Bhima commission: Hearings suspended due to lack of ‘suitable place’

The two-member commission, headed by retired Justice J N Patel, was formed to probe into the cause of the Koregaon Bhima violence on January 1, 2018, in which one person was killed and several others were injured.

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.

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 had also postponed its hearings till further notice due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

But the period of extension granted to the commission before the pandemic expired on April 8, so the commission had then sought further extension of at least six months saying that it intended to examine 40 to 50 more witnesses, including police and revenue officers and prominent political leaders.

Accordingly, the state government granted extension to the commission till December 31, 2021. The commission then conducted hearings of witnesses in Pune from August 2 to August 6, 2021. But the hearings in Mumbai were postponed due to unavailability of a bigger place.

“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.

On October 22, the commission had summoned IPS officers Param Bir Singh and Rashmi Shukla. 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).