NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct further investigation into 1984 anti-Sikh riots case against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler who had earlier got a clean chit from the agency.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S P S Laler said some aspects of the case required further probe and the purpose of the investigation was to unearth true facts. He also gave leeway to the Central agency to achieve the goal.
Referring to a judgement of a superior court, the court said that as closure reports have been filed in the case several times, “it would be in the interest of justice if the investigation is monitored by the court on a bi-monthly basis so that no aspect of the case is left uninvestigated.”
“CBI is directed to conduct further investigation into the present case. Be listed for further proceedings on February 2, 2016,” the judge said.
The order was issued in response to a protest petition filed by Lakhvinder Kaur, whose husband Badal Singh was killed in the anti-Sikh riots, challenging the CBI’s closure report exonerating Tytler. The petition challenged the closure report and sought court’s direction to CBI to investigate the matter further and bring available incriminating evidence against the accused on record. Seeking dismissal of the protest petition, the CBI said the probe had established Tytler had no involvement in the killings that took place at Gurudwara Pulbangash on November 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
The CBI had re-investigated the case after a court had refused to accept the closure report in December 2007. Tytler had denied any role in the riots.
We cannot falsely implicate an innocent person on the basis of charged sentiments and to satisfy the ego of vested interests, the CBI had said.
Senior advocate H S Phoolka, representing the victims, has also sought court’s direction to CBI to lodge an FIR against Tytler for influencing witness and hawala transactions.