Deccan Herald,
Oct. 24, 1997

NEW DELHI, Oct 23 (UNI)

The Delhi High Court today expressed serious concern over the manner in which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was probing allegations against former union minister Jagdish Tytler for his involvement in the 1984 anti- sikh riot case.

Mr Justice Anil Dev Singh, who had ordered a CBI investigation into a complaint filed before the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission of Inquiry by riot victim Rajwant Kaur and two of her relatives, said, ''It seems CBI is not keen to investigate the matter.``

CBI Counsel S Lal submitted that the trial court had ordered acquittal in all cases under FIR 633 of November 1984 as per the instructions received and hence no case was made out for investigation.

OBJECTION: To this, the counsel for the petitioner objected saying the acquittal was ordered not in FIR 633 but in FIR 639 of 1984. The judge said it was the duty of CBI to ascertain the facts of the order. ''There are certain matters which do not require instructions, but were matters of facts which can be ascertained after seeing the order,`` Mr Justice Singh observed.

He directed CBI to ascertain the contents of the order and also whether any order was passed in relation to Ms Rajwant Kaur`s complaint. The case was then adjourned to November 4 for further hearing.

The judge overruled CBI`s contention that the investigation could not be initiated as the court`s earlier order did not specify the exact number of the FIR. Ms Rajwant Kaur had, in her complaint, named two police officials and Mr Tytler for inciting the mob which killed her husband. She further alleged that the Delhi police, which had been investigating the case earlier, did not record the statements of neighbours and ertain victims under section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC), which is considered good in law. Instead the statements were recorded under Section 162 of the CRPC.

TRANSFERRED: Even the Delhi police in an affidavit filed before the judge had stated that the complaint of Ms Rajwant Kaur has been misplaced and no investigation could be carried on it. The High Court had on August 26 transferred the probe to CBI and had directed reinvestigation of the whole matter.

The judge had asked the premier investigating agency to probe the role of Mr Tytler and two police officials in inciting an anti- Sikh mob in north Delhi on November one, 1984, a day after the assassinatioin of prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Mr Justice Singh stated in his order that ''the police were not able to trace the culprits and keeping in view the alleged involvement of the police officers, I consider it expedient and in the interest of justice to direct reinvestigation into the matter by the CBI.`` The court observed that despite the Delhi administration constituting a special cell for investigation, the ''offenders remained untraced``.