“Ramabai Nagar is a Dalit locality and any political move will only benefit the party. RPI is making the police a victim of its politics,” said Kadam in his statement.

Of the 38 prosecution witnesses who have testified so far in the case Kadam accepted 17 witnesses and rejected others labeling their statement as biased and false. Kadam also rejected testimonies by the police stating that the markings of the dead were wrongly made and most of the men had died near the tanker which was allegedly set ablaze.  

The case dates back to July 11, 1997, when Kadam had ordered his platoon to open fire on a mob for rioting at Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar following desecration of Dr B R Ambedkar’s statue. 10 people died in the firing and 26 were injured.