CBI gives clean chit to Tytler in anti-Sikh riots case

New Delhi, Apr 2 (PTI) In a reprieve for former Indian
Minister Jagdish Tytler, Central Bureau of Investigation,
India's top investigating agency, Thursday gave him a clean
chit in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and informed a Delhi court
that it wanted to close the matter.

CBI counsel Sanjay Kumar told Additional Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate Rakesh Pandit that "We have filed the
cancellation report in the matter and we want to close the
investigation."

Earlier, the court ordered the opening of the sealed
envelope containing the final investigation report, filed on
March 28 and other status reports submitted by the CBI during
the probe.

The case against 65 year-old Tytler, who has been
declared Congress candidate from Delhi's northeast seat for
the Lok Sabha polls, relates to an incident on November one,
1984, when a mob had set afire Gurudwara Pulbangash killing
three persons in the riots that had broken out after the
assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Reacting to the CBI move, Tytler said, "Right from the
beginning I had said this was a frame-up...I was innocent and
the truth has come out. Let people say what they want to. I
want to just close the chapter."

H S Phoolka, counsel for Delhi Sikh Gurudwara
Management Committee, raised objections over the alleged leak
of the report on Tytler who had claimed innocence in the case.

"CBI seems to be hand in gloves with the accused who
claims that he has been given clean chit," he said.
The court now fixed the matter for April nine.

Earlier, the probe agency had on September 29, 2007,
sought to close the case against Tytler. But the court had on
December 19, 2007, asked it to file the investigation report
after Jasbir Singh, a witness, surfaced and expressed his
willingness to depose against the Congress leader.