MUMBAI, Sept. 8 -- NCP spokesperson and MLC, Amol Mitkari, has apologised for remarks he made against a woman IPS officer in Solapur, while attempting to defend his party chief and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. After a strong backlash for further undermining the IPS officer, Anjana Krishna, who was earlier berated by Pawar for attempting to halt a group of men from sand mining, Mitkari said in a tweet on Saturday: "I unconditionally retract the tweet I made regarding the Solapur incident and express my apology. This was not my party's position but my personal opinion. I have the highest respect for our police force and the officers who serve honestly. I completely agree with the position of the party's senior leadership." On Friday, Mitkari had sought information from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Krishna's educational and caste qualifications, wondering how Krishna was unable to recognise Pawar's voice. "She is working in Maharashtra and doesn't even know the deputy chief minister of that state," Mitkari had said in a tweet. The NCP leader's comments only further stoked a controversy triggered by Pawar, who had instructed Krishna, over the phone, not to halt the alleged illegal sand mining, on the request of a local NCP leader. When Krishna asked Pawar to call on her own mobile phone, to confirm that she was indeed speaking to the deputy chief minister, he reacted with sarcasm and added that administrative action would be taken against her. Pawar later said he had never intended to interfere with law enforcement but wanted to "ensure that the situation on the ground remained calm". On Sunday, NCP chief spokesperson Anand Paranjpe reiterated Pawar's stand, saying "His (Pawar's ) intervention was to ensure that law and order would not be disturbed." But the controversy took another twist in the evening, when social activist Anjali Damania sought an inquiry against Pawar via a legal notice sent to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Damania said the altercation between Pawar and Krishna was a gross abuse of political office, interference in an investigation, obstruction of the discharge of duty by a public servant, and overt intimidation of an IPS officer in the field. But, on Sunday, the NCP was pulling out all the stops. Party spokesperson Sanjay Tatkare claimed it was a misunderstanding. "The gram panchayat had passed a resolution to repair a road in the village, for which excavation was underway, which she (Krishna) considered illegal excavation. According to various videos that appeared on social media platforms, the language barrier also played a role in the misunderstanding between the IPS officer and the villagers, which led to the issue as she was unable to understand Marathi," he claimed....