1984 riots: Delhi court asks CBI to file reply

A complainant in the 1984 anti-Sikh riot case on Friday filed a protest petition against the CBI's closure report giving a clean chit to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler for his alleged role in the violence.

The petition was filed by Lakhvinder Kaur, whose husband Badal Singh was killed during the riot that left thousands dead after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler issued notice to the CBI and fixed the matter for September 11.

The court was hearing the closure report that gave a clean chit to Tytler. It was for the third time that the CBI filed a closure report in the case.

In her plea filed through senior advocate H.S. Phoolka, Kaur has sought the court's direction to the CBI to probe the matter further to bring on record available incriminating evidence against the accused and sought action against Tytler over allegations of influencing witness and money laundering.

Phoolka, who is representing the victims, said the CBI's investigation was "faulty, tainted, dishonest and perfunctory".

The plea alleged that the CBI was able to trace out only those witnesses who are deposed in Tytler's favour.

The petition alleged that the agency had not examined and recorded statements of witnesses who were available to depose against the accused.

"The closure report deserves to be rejected and ignored and there is ample evidence available on record as well as otherwise for this court to direct the CBI to conduct further investigation as the witnesses are available and ready to give their statements concerning the incident," the plea said.

The closure report has been filed on the premise that no incriminating evidence was available against Tytler.

The victims sought action against Tytler for allegedly influencing witnesses and money laundering.

The agency twice earlier gave clean chit to the Congress leader. In April 2013, a sessions court rejected the closure report and ordered the agency to further investigate the killing.

The CBI did that but again filed another closure report on December 24, 2014.