CBI team in US to record statement of anti-Sikh riots witness

New York, Dec 24 (PTI) Jasbir Singh, who claims that
former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler played a key role in
instigating the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, is to depose before a
CBI team in San Fransisco city in the US.


A two-member special CBI team arrived here en route to
San Fransisco to record the statement of Singh, who is now
based in California in the US west-coast.

Though Singh has been making these allegations for the
past three years, he has repeatedly refused to return to India
to testify before the special courts hearing the 1984 riot
cases, saying he feared for his life.

Singh has alleged that former Union Minister Jagdish
Tytler played a key role in instigating anti-Sikh rioters in
1984.


He has filed several affidavits against Tytler, an
influential Congress leader of Delhi, before various
Commissions, saying he was willing to testify before the court
provided his and his family's safety was guaranteed.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team was also
expected to record the statement of another witness Jasbinder
Singh, who is settled in New York, but officials were
tightlipped about it.

"We have sent a team to the US to record the statement of
two persons. They do not want to come to India...," CBI
Director Ashwini Kumar told reporters in New Delhi Tuesday.

CBI's move to visit the US marks a U-turn from its
earlier position demanding the presence of Singh and other
witnesses in India.

The agency, which had on September 29, 2007 filed an
affidavit in a court here seeking closure of case against
Tytler on the plea that Singh was untraceable, was directed by
the court to submit the address of Singh, declared as a
crucial witness. PTI DS
RKM
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