Court asks CBI to speed up probe into ’84 riots case against Tytler
NW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to expedite the investigation in the 1984 antisikh riots case allegedly involving Congress leader Jagdish Tytler and file a progress report.
The direction was passed by the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate Amit Arora, after the agency informed it that one more month was needed to conduct a lie-detector test on controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma, a witness in the case.
The court directed the CBI superintendent of police, who appeared before it in pursuance to its February order, to speed up the probe and file the progress report by May 21, the next date of hearing. The case relates to the riots at Gurdwara Pulbangash in North Delhi where three people were killed on November 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of the then PM Indira Gandhi.
During the hearing, senior advocate HS Phoolka, appearing for the riots victims, said the investigation was going on since two years and alleged that the CBI was trying to shield Tytler in the case. “It has been two years. A lot of evidence has been destroyed in the case,” Phoolka said. He said the court had ordered for Verma’s lie-detector test in a forensic lab in Rohini here six months ago and even that was being delayed. The agency told the court that the polygraph machine in the lab was not working which is why the test could not be conducted.
Verma had earlier alleged before the court that the forensic lab here was trying to shield Tytler, who has been given clean chit in the case, during the polygraph tests carried out earlier. While Tytler, who has been given a clean chit thrice by the CBI in the riots case, has refused to undergo the lie-detector test.