Court dismisses CBI's plea in Jagdish Tytler's case

A Delhi Court today dismissed the plea of CBI that a Metropolitan Magistrate cannot decide on the agency's closure report giving clean chit to former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler in a 1984 Sikh riots' case.

'This court can take cognisance of the offence exclusively triable by the court of Sessions and then can summon the accused who are mentioned in the chargesheet as well as those who are not mentioned therein, if it appears to the court that they have also done the offence," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Rakesh Pandit said.

The court will take cognizance on the closure report on September 23. The CBI had on April 2 sought to close the case against Tytler, claiming there was no sufficient evidence against him, but it had challenged the jurisdiction of the court to take cognisance of the report.

Tytler, 65, was given a clean chit by CBI earlier also on September 28, 2007 after the agency said it failed to trace Jasbir Singh, a key witness in the case.

However, in December, 2007, the court had refused to accept CBI's closure report and directed the agency to further investigate the case, compelling it to send its officials to the United States to record Singh's statement.

The case relates to an incident on November 1, 1984, when a mob set afire Gurdwara Pulbangash in north Delhi, killing three persons -- Badal Singh, Thakur Singh and Gurcharan Singh.