Anti-Sikh riots: Tyler claims witnesses 'telling lies'

Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, against whom a court has ordered reopening of a case of alleged involvement in 1984 anti-Sikh riots, today attacked the witnesses saying they were unreliable and "telling lies".
Claiming that one of the witnesses Surinder Singh has changed his statements five times, he questioned why senior lawyer H S Phoolka "forced him" to write a statement.
"My name comes back on the basis of the statement made by Surinder Singh and Jasbir Singh. Surinder Singh first gave a statement in English and then gave a written statement in Gurumukhi. I want to know that why Phoolka forced Surinder Singh to write a statement," Tytler said.

He also claimed he was not present at the scene of crime and that he was "100 per cent open" for a probe into the carnage.
"I have produced a footage by Doordarshan which shows that I was present with the body of Mrs Gandhi from 7 AM to 3 O' clock.... How can I be at two place at the same time," he told television channels.
Tytler said that the second witness in the case Jasbir Singh was declared an absconder by a court. He said the investigating agencies found that Jasbir Singh was in Jodhpur during the time of the incident. "All these witnesses are not only unreliable but they are telling lies," the Congress leader said.

Tytler questioned as to why the BJP did not take any action in the matter when it came to power.

"The BJP government came twice, they too could have taken action against me," Tytler said, adding he was "100 per cent open to probe in the 1984 riots case."
He said he was given a clean chit when L K Advani was the Home Minister in NDA rule.
The 29-year-old case related to the anti-Sikh riots which broke out following the killing of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came back to haunt Tytler with a Delhi court yesterday setting aside CBI's closure report giving clean chit to him and ordering reopening of investigation into the killing of three persons.