His chief examination was recorded by the commission's lawyer Aashish Satpute. Advocate Barun Kumar, representing activist and Elgaar Parishad case accused Harshali Potdar, started his cross-examination after that. The cross-examination of senior police officer Shivaji Pawar, who had investigated the Elgaar Parishad case in 2018-19, started before the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry on Thursday. Earlier in the day, Pawar deposed as a witness before the Commission in Pune.
His chief examination was recorded by the commission’s lawyer Aashish Satpute. Advocate Barun Kumar, representing activist and Elgaar Parishad case accused Harshali Potdar, started his cross-examination after that.
After asking a couple of questions, Kumar told the commission that Pawar was summoned on an application made by senior lawyer B A Desai. Advocates appearing before the commission said they will cross examine Pawar only after Desai does so first. However, Desai was not in a position to attend the hearing in Pune due to advanced age. So, the commission discharged Pawar and said he would be examined during the next hearing in Mumbai.
The two-member commission, headed by retired justice JN Patel, is probing the causes of violence in Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018, in which a person was killed and several others were left injured.
Elgaar Parishad, a conclave, was held at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, a day before the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima. Next day, violence broke out in the area, leaving one dead and several injured. Shivaji Pawar, the deputy director (administration) of Maharashtra Police Academy, Nashik, was an assistant commissioner with Pune City Police at the time of the violence. He carried out a probe into an FIR lodged at the Vishrambag police station against some of the activists involved in the organisation of Elgaar Parishad.
Pune City Police has claimed that Elgaar Parishad was organised according to the strategy of the banned CPI-Maoist. Speeches delivered at the conclave and previous campaigns for the event were among the factors that caused the violence, claimed police. The Elgaar Parishad probe was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency. IPS officer Ravindra Sengaonkar (who retired recently) was the additional commissioner (south region) of Pune City Police at the time of the violence.
He had filed the affidavit before the commission on behalf of Pune City Police in October 2018. With his affidavit, Sengaonkar had attached a report by Pawar regarding the Elgaar Parishad case probe. Sengaonkar is also being cross examined before the commission. But, senior lawyer BA Desai had filed an application a few months earlier, in which he sought examination of Shivaji Pawar, saying Sengaonkar had no role in the Elgaar Parishad probe.