CBI gets 2 months to finish Jagdish Tytler probe

The CBI was on Monday given a last chance to complete its further probe in two months in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which Congress leader Jagdish Tytler was earlier given a clean chit for his alleged role, with the court, saying justice delayed amounted to justice denied.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Shivali Sharma pulled up the CBI for not taking proper steps to complete the probe, as directed by the court earlier, and made it clear that if no fruitful results are shown in these two months, the agency’s superintendent of police will have to tender an explanation.

The court’s direction came when the CBI prosecutor filed a status report of the ongoing probe and sought two more months to file the final report.

“I have perused the CBI’s status report and the case file. It appears proper steps are not being taken to complete the probe as directed by the court earlier. Still in the interest of justice and on the asking of the investigating officer, further two months time is given to complete the probe,” the magistrate said.

The court made clear in its order that if “no fruitful results” are arrived at after two months, then the concerned SP of CBI will have to appear before it. It also remarked “justice delayed is justice denied and it is a fact,” apparently indicating the delay in the probe.

During the hearing, senior advocate H.S. Phoolka, who was representing the complainant and riot victims, argued that he had a right to know the status of the probe and said the CBI should be asked to give a copy of its communication with the high commission of Canada regarding some information.

The court had on December 4, 2015, directed CBI to further probe the riots case against Tytler, saying the statement of arms dealer Abhishek Verma had revealed an active role played by the Congress leader in extending “helping hand” to a witness against him.

The court had also said that as the CBI had filed closure reports in the case several times, it would from now on monitor the probe every two months so that no aspect of the matter is left uninvestigated.

The case pertains to the riots at Gurdwara Pulbangash in north Delhi where three people were killed on November 1, 1984. The court’s order had come on a protest petition filed by complainant Lakhvinder Kaur, whose husband Badal Singh was killed in the violence.