Bhima-Koregaon judicial commission open to questioning Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government-appointed judicial commission probing the Bhima-Koregaon violence on Wednesday heard an application filed by social activist Dr. Sanjay Patil demanding that former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis be questioned into the matter as a witness.

The commission, while hearing the application filed by the intervener, said that it will "summon each and every person" who can shed any light on the case.

Patil, in his application, said that Fadnavis should be called as a witness as he had made a statement in the legislative assembly and council holding Shivprathisthan president Shambhaji Bhide and Samasta Hindu Aghadi president Milind Ekbote responsible for the violence.

The application said that the statement made by Fadnavis in legislative assembly and council are relevant as "it is an exact true responsible statement and it is always based on the reliable information obtained by former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis from his senior officers and also all the records of the police and the government and inquiry material obtained by the state from the relevant parties".

"Fadnavis has not alleged the members of the Yalgaar Parishad or urban Naxals for Bhima-Koregaon riots," said the application, which was filed before the commission on Monday.

It also sought that the commission calls all records on phone, mobile records, police control room records, wireless records of the day.

The central government has handed over the investigation of the Bhima-Koregaon case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), without the state government's approval.

On January 1, 2018, violence had erupted during the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle. One person had lost his life while several others were injured in the incident. Police had filed 58 cases against 162 people in the matter.