The Commission had concluded hearings of witnesses in August this year, after which the government gave a two months extension till October 31, to submit its final report. (File photo)The Maharashtra government has granted yet another extension to the Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry till March 31, 2027.The Home Department of the state government issued a letter in this regard on October 30.This is the 24th extension granted to the commission probing the causes for violence in Pune’s Koregaon Bhima area on January 1, 2018, in which one person died and several others were injured where lakhs of Ambedkarites had gathered to commemorate the 200th battle of Koregaon Bhima.The state government constituted a two-member commission, headed by retired high court justice J N Patel with former chief secretary Sumit Malik as the other member, on February 9, 2018, to inquire into the “exact sequence” of events that led to Koregaon Bhima violence.Initially, the commission was given four months to submit its report, but its tenure had to be repeatedly extended to allow it to complete its work. The commission could not function during the Covid-19 outbreak.The Commission has so far examined 58 witnesses. They include senior politicians like NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) president Prakash Ambedkar, various government and police officials like Rashmi Shukla (the then commissioner of Pune city police), Suvez Haque (the then superintendent of Pune rural police), Saurabh Rao (then the Pune district collector), former IAS officer and noted author Vishwas Patil, Elgaar Parishad activist Harshali Potdar, along with villagers from Koregaon Bhima and Vadhu Budruk.The Commission had concluded hearings of witnesses in August this year, after which the government gave a two months extension till October 31, to submit its final report.Story continues below this adV V Palnitkar, the Commission’s secretary, told The Indian Express, “Government has granted a further extension of five months. Some pending arguments before the Commission would be concluded. The Commission would then submit its final report to the government.”Chandan Haygunde is an Assistant Editor at The Indian Express, based in Pune. With over 20 years of ... Read More Tags:bhima koregaon violencepune