M A I N   N E W S

‘Clean chit’ to Tytler in ’84 riots
Rashi Agarwal
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 27
Senior Congress leader Jagdish Tytler received a major respite today when a Delhi court accepted the CBI’s closure report in an anti-Sikh riots case having him as an accused. The court’s decision effectively clears Tytler of any involvement in the 1984 riots and could resurrect his political career.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Rakesh Pandit agreed with the CBI contention that there was insufficient evidence against Tytler. “There is no sufficient material to send Tytler to trial… Moreover there is no ground to order further investigation in the case,” the court said.

The court said the statement of California-based witness Jasbir Singh had no relevance and that the statements of another witness, Surinder Singh, were contradictory. CBI counsel Sanjay Kumar had earlier submitted in the court that during investigation, only two persons came forward to depose against Tytler and both of them were unreliable. Both, Surinder, who has since passed away, and Jasbir, had made false statements to implicate Tytler, he argued.

Riot victims and activists, some of whom had gathered outside the court and raised slogans against Tytler, said they would move the higher court to appeal against the decision.