New Delhi, November 10
Congress leaders Vasant Sathe, Kamal Nath and Dharam Dass Shastri were today allowed further time to submit their replies by the Justice Nanavati Commission, which is probing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
They were summoned, among others, by the panel last month after some witnesses alleged that they had led rioters in the Capital.
The commission directed Sathe, Kamal Nath, Shastri, Delhi Police Joint Commissioner Amod Kanth and former Additional Commissioner Gautam Kaul and nine others to place affidavits and any other evidence in their defence on record by December 12.
They marked presence before the commission today in response to the notices issued to them on October 28 under Section 8-B of the Commission of Inquiries Act.
The further time was allowed to them after their counsel said they had not been supplied relevant material on the basis of which the panel had come to the conclusion that their deposition was necessary.
The required material was ordered to be supplied to each of the 14 respondents. Among the other respondents are: the then Pharganj police station SHO K.K. Manan, now an Assistant Commissioner of Police and the then North Avenue area Sub-Inspector Hoshyar Singh.
While three witnesses, Mukhtar Singh and Ajit Singh and a journalist, had alleged that they saw Sathe and Kamal Nath leading a mob that had attacked Gurdwara Rakabganj, near Parliament House, a day after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
