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1984 riots: CBI ends arguments, calls witness liar

February 10, 2010 16:16 IST
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday concluded its arguments before a Delhi court by supporting its closure report giving a clean chit to former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and terming the witnesses' statements as "false and concocted".

"The version of (witness) Jasbir Singh is absolutely false and concocted. He has made statements with an intention to falsely implicate Tytler," CBI Prosecutor Sanjay Kumar submitted before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Rakesh Pandit.

The CBI counsel submitted that they have examined the father, brother and son of Surender Singh, another witness and they all have said that he was not giving correct statements.

Kumar also referred to the statement of Jasbir in which he claimed to have seen Tytler in an Ambassador car. The CBI counsel said that the former Union Minister possessed no such vehicle at that time.

The statement of Jasbir that Succha Singh had given him shelter was termed false by the CBI counsel who said that the witness had denied knowing him before the probe agency.

The CBI concluded its arguments before the court, which asked the victim's counsel to file a protest petition in the matter and posted the matter for February 23.

The Delhi High Court had on February 8 directed the lower court to complete the trial of all pending anti-Sikh riots cases, including those related to Congress leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, within six months.

The CBI had on December 1 last year cited statements by an eyewitness Surinder Singh to a local court in an attempt to justify its closure report in the case against the former minister.

Surinder died on July 13, 2009. CBI had also read out statements of Surinder's relatives and other witnesses like Harinder, Harbhajan, Kuljeet Singh Duggal to reiterate its stand that Tytler was not among the rioting mob surrounding Gurudwara Pulbangash in north Delhi after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The probe agency had earlier produced a CD before the court to claim that Tytler was present at the residence of Gandhi and not at the riot site. The CBI had on April 2 sought to close the case against Tytler claiming lack of sufficient evidence against him.

The alleged role of Tytler in a case relating to the killing of three persons on November 1, 1984, in the aftermath of Gandhi's assassination, was re-investigated by CBI after a court had earlier refused to accept a closure report filed by the agency against him in December, 2007.
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