1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Court wants Tytler’s response on polygraph test

Congress leader Jagdish Tytler was on Tuesday directed by a Delhi court to give an “unambiguous” reply on whether he wanted to undergo lie-detector test in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, in which he was earlier given a clean chit.

The court held that CBI’s plea for obtaining consent of Tytler and businessman Abhishek Verma, a prosecution witness in the case, for conducting polygraph test was maintainable.

The court said that in his reply to CBI’s plea seeking his consent for the test, Tytler had remained evasive.

Challenging the maintainability of the CBI’s plea, Tytler’s counsel had argued that it was a gross misuse of process of law which was filed with an intent to embarrass him.

The CBI’s move seeking permission to conduct polygraph test on Tytler and Verma came in pursuance to the court’s December 4, 2015 order in which it was mentioned that the lie-detection test may be conducted, if required.

The case pertains to the riots at Gurudwara Pulbangash in North Delhi where three people were killed on November 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Tytler, who has denied any role in the riots, was given clean chit by the CBI thrice in the case, but the agency was directed by the court to further investigate the matter. The victims had filed a protest petition challenging the CBI’s closure reports in the case.

The court had in December 2015 directed the CBI to further investigate the matter and said it would monitor the probe every two months to ensure that no aspect is left uninvestigated.

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