NCP chief Sharad Pawar to depose as witness before Bhima Koregaon JIC

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will depose before the Bhima Koregaon judicial inquiry commission (JIC) as witness on April 4, according to an official statement.

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Mar 18 : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will depose before the Bhima Koregaon judicial inquiry commission (JIC) as witness on April 4, according to an official statement.

"Along with Sharad Pawar, the commission has also summoned then Pune collector Saurabh Rao on April 3 and 4, then Pune ACP Ravindra Sengaonkar on April 1 and 3, then SP Mohd Suvez Haq and DSP Sandip Pahale on March 30 and 31," the statement said.

According to the statement, no adjournments will be granted in the matter.

The commission, headed by former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice JN Patel, had earlier said that it will call NCP chief for deposition in the matter soon.

An application was filed by one Sagar Shinde on February 20, requesting the JIC to summon Pawar in the matter. Pawar has already filed an affidavit in the matter.

This comes a day after the commission postponed all hearing in the case scheduled for the last week of March at Pune in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

The JIC was constituted by the Maharashtra government in February 2018 to find out the reasons which had led to the violence.

On January 1, 2018, violence had erupted during the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle. One person was killed and several others were injured in the incident. The police have filed 58 cases against 162 people in the matter.

( With inputs from ANI )