By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Monday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to respond to a petition by a US-based witness in a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots involving Congress leader Jagdish Tytler. The witness, Jasbir Singh, wants his statement to be recorded in a court in the US.
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul asked the CBI to respond to the petition by Feb 27. Additional Solicitor General P.P. Malhotra assured the court that the CBI would not close the case while the matter was pending.
The court asked the CBI why it was not interested in recording Singh’s statement via video-conferencing. The agency replied that Singh’s identity was disputed and it would not record his statement until and unless it was sure of his whereabouts in the US.
The CBI had earlier said it could not find California-based Singh. The would-be witness filed his petition last week through his son, seeking the quashing of a notice issued by the investigating agency asking him to come to India and give his statement in the matter.
The CBI, following a trial court order directing it to reinvestigate Tytler’s role in the anti-Sikh violence, had issued notice to Singh Jan 2 under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which empowers the investigating agency to seek the presence of a witness.
Challenging the summons, Singh said: “If the CBI is really serious and interested in investigating the case and recording the statement of the witness petitioner, then it should have moved (the summons) under Section 166A (1) (which allows a non-resident Indian to testify in foreign courts on the request of the probe agency) and not under Section 160 of the CrPC.”
Singh, in an affidavit before the Nanavati Commission that inquired into the anti-Sikh riots, had stated that on Nov 3, 1984 he had overheard Tytler rebuking his men for only “nominal killings” of Sikhs in his constituency.