New Delhi: The Supreme Court granted Friday two more months to the special investigation team (SIT) to complete its probe into 186 cases of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
A bench comprising Justices SA Bobde and S Abdul Nazeer extended the time after the SIT informed it that more than 50 per cent of the work has been done and it wanted two more months to complete the investigation.
The apex court also issued notice to parties on a plea by petitioner S Gurlad Singh Kahlon, a member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, seeking inquiry into role of 62 policemen named in the riots.
The SC had January 11 last year constituted the SIT headed by former Delhi High Court judge Justice SN Dhingra and comprising retired IPS officer Rajdeep Singh and serving IPS officer Abhishek Dular to supervise further probe into the 186 riots cases, in which closure reports had been filed earlier. However, the SIT presently has only two members as Singh had declined to be a part of the team on ‘personal grounds’.
Large-scale riots had broken out in the national capital following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh security guards, October 31, 1984. The violence had claimed 2,733 lives in Delhi alone.
The court had said the previous SIT did not carry out further probe into the 186 cases and had directed setting up of a fresh SIT comprising a former high court judge and two police officers.
It should be stated here that Justice Dhingra, who had retired from the Delhi High Court, had dealt with several high-profile cases including the 2001 Parliament attack case as a trial judge.
PTI
