Congress leader Jagdish Tytler.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday filed a chargesheet against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.
Filed before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Rouse Avenue District Court, the chargesheet states that Mr. Tytler “incited, instigated and provoked the mob” which assembled near the Pul Bangash Gurdwara on November 1, 1984.
The CBI has alleged that the mob torched and looted the religious site as well as some shops and murdered three Sikh men, Sardar Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Gurcharan Singh.
Sources said the agency has invoked Indian Penal Code Sections 147 (rioting), 148, 149 (unlawful assembly), 153A (provocation), 109 (abetment) read with 302 (murder), 295 (defiling of religious places), among others against the Congress leader. The court will consider the charges on June 2.
The chargesheet comes nearly 39 years after the riots broke out, following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards.
In 2000, the Justice Nanavati Commission was set up by the Centre to probe various incidents during the 1984 riots. After considering the Commission’s report, tabled in 2005, the Ministry of Home Affairs directed the CBI to investigate the case against Mr. Tytler and others.
The agency had previously given him a clean chit in the Pul Bangash case, but had to reopen it following a court order in 2015.
As part of the renewed probe, the CBI had last month collected Mr. Tytler’s voice samples to be matched with a recording of a speech he allegedly gave during the riots.
“After the investigation, a chargesheet has been filed,” the CBI said.
