In a reprieve to senior Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, a court in New Delhi on Tuesday accepted the closure report by CBI in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case against him saying there was no sufficient evidence to send him to trial.
"There is nothing which suggests that accused Tytler was seen on November eight, 1984, near Gurudwara Pulbangash or incited a mob for killing Sikh people," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Rakesh Pandit said, accepting CBI's case closure report against him.
CBI had given clean chit to Tytler for the second time in a row on April 2 last year claiming lack of sufficient evidence against him in the case pertaining to the murder of three persons on November one, 1984, following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
In its 19-page order, the court, which heard arguments for several days on behalf of CBI and Lakhwinder Kaur, whose husband was killed in the riots, termed the testimony of one witness as having "no relevance and another as "self contradictory".
"That the testimony of Jasbir Singh (witness) has no relevance to the case before the court. The testimonies of witness Surinder Singh contain a number of self contradictory averments and different stands as argued by CBI and accepted by this court do not constitute sufficient material for sending the accused (Tytler) to trial," the court said.
It also pointed out that after the death of Surinder in June last year, there was no person left to depose regarding the circumstances in which he gave statements and filed affidavits.
ACMM Pandit rejected the plea of Kaur seeking summoning of Tytler or direction to CBI for further investigation in the case saying "this court does not see any requirement for directing further investigation in the present matter."
The alleged role of Tytler in the case relating to the killing of three persons, including one Badal Singh in 1984, near Gurudwara Pulbangash in north Delhi was re-investigated by CBI after a court had in December 2007 refused to accept a closure report filed by the agency.
Expressing her "disappointment" with the order, Rebecca M John, counsel for Badal's widow Kaur, alleged CBI "deliberately did not bring out the witnesses in the support of the case. "This is not the final order. We are going to challenge it. Whether in sessions or in the High Court, we will decide later," she said.
Outside the Karkardooma districts court, a number of Sikh protestors shouted slogans against Tytler demanding punishment for him and burnt his effigy. Security was beefed up in and around the court complex in east Delhi with the deployment of central police forces. PTI
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