Last Updated: March 11, 2024, 23:53 IST
The state home department issued an order stating that Sandeep Karnik will head the SIT, which will conduct an in-depth inquiry into the violence that erupted during the Maratha quota protests a few months ago. (File Image/Instagram)
Sandeep Karnik and three other officers were accused of unjustified firing during a protest staged by farmers in Maval tehsil of Pune district in August 2011, in which three persons were killed
The Maharashtra government on Monday appointed IPS officer Sandeep Karnik, whose name figured in a report on the 2011 firing on farmers, as the head of the special investigation team (SIT), which will probe the Maratha quota violence.
Karnik and three other officers were accused of unjustified firing during a protest staged by farmers in Maval tehsil of Pune district in August 2011, in which three persons were killed.
The state home department issued an order stating that Karnik will head the SIT, which will conduct an in-depth inquiry into the violence that erupted during the Maratha quota protests a few months ago. Violence was reported during quota protests in October 2023, in which houses of two MLAs and other properties were ransacked and torched in Beed.
“The SIT is expected to submit its report in the next three months, covering issues such as deliberate attempts to instigate people to resort to violence by spreading malicious and fake information through social media and other means of communication.
The SIT chief will have special powers to invite experts and induct more people with the state government’s consent,” the order said. Karnik is currently posted as the police commissioner of Nashik City.
Karnik, who was the superintendent of police of Pune district at the time of the Maval firing, was criticised by political parties and the Bombay High Court in 2015 pulled up the state government for letting him off with just a warning.
A probe into the incident had indicated that four officers, including Karnik, were involved in the unjustified firing on a mob of farmers, who had staged a roadblock on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway in Maval to protest against the construction of a pipeline from Pavana dam to Pimpri Chinchwad.