Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray (ANI)
NEW DELHI: Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has been issued a show cause notice by the commission probing the 2018 Koregaon Bhima violence for failing to respond to an application seeking production of key documents related to the case.The inquiry panel, headed by former high court chief justice J N Patel, has asked Thackeray to explain why it should not allow an application filed by Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) leader Prakash Ambedkar seeking a bailable warrant against him, reported PTI.According to the commission, notices were sent to Thackeray on September 12 and October 27, asking for his response to Ambedkar’s plea, but he did not reply. Following this, Ambedkar, through his advocate Kiran Kadam, filed an application requesting that a bailable warrant be issued against the former chief minister.Ambedkar, who is also a witness in the case, had filed the application in February this year, seeking a direction to Thackeray to produce documents submitted by NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar in 2020. According to Ambedkar, Pawar had, in those documents, claimed that certain right-wing organisations were responsible for the Koregaon Bhima violence near Pune in 2018.The commission has now asked Thackeray to explain why the application should not be allowed. It has fixed the next hearing for December 2 and said that if Thackeray or his legal representative fails to appear, “further action permissible in law” will be taken.The Maharashtra government constituted the Koregaon Bhima Commission in February 2018 to investigate the violence. The panel is led by former chief justice J. N. Patel, with former chief secretary Sumit Mullick as its member.Violence broke out on January 1, 2018, between caste groups near a war memorial in Pune district during the bicentennial commemoration of the 1818 Battle of Koregaon Bhima. One person was killed and several others, including ten police personnel, were injured in the clashes.According to police, the violence was triggered by provocative speeches made at the ‘Elgar Parishad’ conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017. The police have alleged that the organisers of the conclave had links with Maoists.
