Court seeks CBI reply on charges against Tytler

A court here on Wednesday asked the CBI to file a reply by June 26 on the allegations that Congress leader Jagdish Tytler tried to influence witnesses in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case against him.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler gave the direction while hearing arguments on a closure report that gave a clean chit to Tytler in the riots case.

Senior advocate H.S. Phoolka, appearing for victim/complainant Lakhvinder Kaur, whose husband Badal Singh was killed during the riots, cited the statements of different witnesses and businessman Abhishek Verma and alleged that the Congress leader had tried to influence witnesses in the case.

Citing Verma's statement - enclosed with the closure report - Phoolka told the court the businessman had mentioned that Tytler tried to influence one of the witnesses by giving him a hefty sum of money and promising to settle his son abroad.

It was for the third time that the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a closure report in the case.

The probe agency earlier gave a clean chit twice to the Congress leader.

In April 2013, a sessions court rejected the closure report and ordered the probe agency to further investigate the killing.

Acting on its direction, the CBI conducted further probe but again filed another closure report on December 24, 2014, in the Magistrate's court.