MUMBAI, November 6: Justice Sudhakar D Gundewar, conducting an inquiry into the desecration of Dr Ambedkar's statue and subsequent firing by the police killing ten Dalits, today screened the video cassette showing a few incidents of riots on the morning of July 11, 1997.

Justice Gundewar barred the media from joining the screening stating the cassette was not made public and will be screened for the scribes at a later stage. However, the then city police commissioner Subhash Malhotra had screened the cassette for reporters soon after the desecration to support the police firing. The cassette was again screened at Mantralaya before senior political reporters.

The cassette was shot by Ravi Shinde, a businessman, from the balcony of his fifth floor residence along the Eastern Express highway. The cassette has shots of a crowd approaching a petrol tanker parked by the highway and some people attempting to set it ablaze. The police claim that they opened fire to prevent this crowd from setting the tanker afire.

Secretary to Justice Gundewar, K J Paratwar said: ``We do not want to keep anything secret. But the cassette has not been made public as yet. There will be more rounds of screening of the cassette and journalists will be informed.''

Justice Gundewar directed state home secretary Venkat Chari to file an application with an affidavit on Friday. The examination of witnesses and actual recording of evidence will begin on Monday.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.