Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar has told the Koregaon Bhima Inquiry Commission that he needs more time to file an additional affidavit in the case, and that he will appear before it soon, reported India Today.

The panel’s lawyer Ashish Satpute said Pawar has been given more time.

The case pertains to caste violence in a village near Pune in 2018. The two-member commission, headed by retired High Court judge Justice JN Patel, was constituted in February 2018 by the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to investigate the case.

Pawar was scheduled to depose before the commission on February 23 and 24 in Mumbai. In a video statement on February 22, Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik had said that Pawar will appear before the panel later, PTI reported.

“He [Pawar] has submitted to the commission in writing that he won’t be able to appear before it this time,” Malik said.

The panel had summoned Pawar in 2020 as well, but he was unable to appear before it due to Covid-19 restrictions.

In February 2020, Sagar Shinde, member of a social group called Vivek Vichar Manch, had filed an application before the inquiry commission saying Pawar should be summoned based on the media statements he made about the caste violence, according to PTI.