Home India News CBI questions anti-Sikh riot witness in US

CBI questions anti-Sikh riot witness in US

By IANS,

New Delhi : A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team has been recording the statement of Jasbir Singh, a US-based key witness to a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, in California, agency officials said here Tuesday.

“A two-member team headed by a superintendent (of police) is questioning Singh in the US,” a CBI spokesman said here.

According to agency officials, the team left last week for the US after Singh refused to come to India to make his statement before a court, citing threat to his life.

The team, which will return later this week, is also expected to question another witness, Surinder Singh, who is based in New York.

The CBI has earlier filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court saying it would provide security to Jasbir Singh and bear the cost of his travel expenses if he came to India to depose before the court.

But Jasbir Singh filed a rejoinder in the court saying he could not come to India to record his statement as his life would be in danger and the court should arrange for video-conferencing to record his statement.

He said the CBI had failed to follow the right procedure for summoning him and was not conducting a fair trial in the case, so as to protect the accused, senior Congress leader and parliamentarian Jagdish Tytler.