CM Devendra Fadnavis makes formal request for judicial panel

Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday made a formal request to acting chief justice Vijaya Kapase Tahilramani to appoint a sitting judge to probe events that led to the Bhima-Koregaon violence. CM Fadnavis then said that the high court would process the request.

However, according to legal experts, giving powers of prosecution or criminal proceedings to the proposed judicial commission to investigate the violence at the 200th anniversary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle is highly impossible. Sources went to the extent of saying that the CM was trying to avoid arrest of Sambhaji Bhide of Shiv Pratishthan and Milind Ekbote of Hindu Aghadi under the pretext of a judicial probe and that his assurance to dalit leaders might prove futile.

With dalit leaders aggressively demanding criminal action against perpetrators of the Pune violence, the CM has assured Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Prakash Ambedkar that the government will give powers of criminal prosecution to the judicial commission.

Sources said that judicial commission reports are not binding on the government.