NO OBJECTION IF 2 MEMBERS OF SIT SUPERVISE CASES: GOVT

NEWDELHI: The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that it may not be necessary to substitute retired IPS officer Rajdeep Singh who has declined to be a part of three-member SIT supervising further probe into 186 cases of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots citing personal reasons.

The government told a bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta that they have no objection if the other two members of the special investigation team (SIT), former Delhi high court judge Justice SN Dhingra and serving IPS officer Abhishek Dular, continue with the work.

The bench said since the January 11 order constituting a threemember SIT was passed by a bench of three judges, they cannot modify it while sitting in a combination of two judges.

The bench has posted the matter for hearing on Tuesday.

Additional solicitor general Pinky Anand, appearing for the Centre, said she has no objection to the suggestions given by the counsel for petitioner that the other two members should continue with the work.

On January 11, the top court had constituted a three-member SIT headed by justice Dhingra (retd) to supervise further probe into the 186 cases, in which closure reports had been filed earlier.

Large-scale riots had broken out in the national capital in the aftermath of the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh security guards on the morning of October 31, 1984. The violence had claimed 2,733 lives in Delhi alone. PTI