Koregaon Bhima violence: Ambedkar cites Pawar's 2020 letter, asks probe panel to summon him

Politician and lawyer Prakash Ambedkar. (Image- PTI)

Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar has written to the Koregaon Bhima Commission citing a letter written by NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar on the violence that occurred here in 2018 and asked that the latter be summoned and documentary evidence be submitted.

Caste violence broke out in Pune's Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018 amid 200th anniversary celebrations of a battle that took place there. The violence took place a day after a conclave was held in Pune, which police have claimed was a Maoist-backed one.

The then Devendra Fadnavis government had set up a commission under former judge JN Patel to probe the violence.

Ambedkar cited a letter written in 2020 by Pawar to then CM Uddhav Thackeray alleging that the violence was the result of a conspiracy of the Fadnavis dispensation in power at the time.

The VBA leader asked the commission to direct the submission of relevant documentary evidence that may be in possession of the chief minister's office (CMO) and to summon Pawar if need be.

"Pawar has testified before the commission but did not submit any sort of documents. But, in January 2020, as per media reports, Pawar had written a two-page letter to then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. In the letter, Pawar termed the violence at Koragaon Bhima as a conspiracy of then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis' government," Ambedkar said in his communication to the commission.

"In such case, the letter written by Pawar to Thackeray and other related documentary evidence, if available, should come before the commission. These documents will help the commission to go to the root cause of the violence and will help it come to a conclusion," Ambedkar added.