According to well-placed sources in the government, the report, prepared by Justice Sudhakar Gundewar of the Bombay High Court, is expected to be tabled before the Legislative Assembly at its ongoing Winter session in Nagpur on December 14 (Monday). Rejecting the claim of the police that the firing, in which 10 Dalits were killed was justified to prevent a major disaster, Justice Gundewar has indicted Inspector Manohar Kadam of the state reserve police who had ordered the firing and recommended strict disciplinary action against him. Dalits residing at Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar and surrounding slums, had taken to large-scale rioting following the desecretion of a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar on the morning of July 11, 1997. Kadamwas the first police official to lead a group of SRP personnel to the spot to control the fast deteriotating situation. In an outcry that followed the incident, the entire Opposition, Dalit leaders and human rights organisations, had accused the police of fabricating the tanker theory.

The police had submitted a three-minute-long video tape filmed by a resident of a building opposite Ramabai Nagar which showed several people rushing towards two tankers parked nearby on the Eastern Express Highway.The Gundewar Commission, however, has not indicted the Shiv Sena-BJP government for the incident. Similarly, leader of the Opposition, Chhagan Bhujbal, has also been exonerated.