SIT probing 1984 Sikh riots gets 6-months' extension
Darpan News Desk IANS, 17 Nov, 2021 01:05 PM
Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Nov 17 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh government has given a six months' extension to the special investigation team (SIT) probing the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
The SIT had sought extension and the state government has given time to the SIT to complete the investigation and make arrests by May 2022.
The investigation of the cases is almost over. After the paperwork, only the arrest of the accused is now pending.
In the anti-Sikh riots, 127 people were killed in Kanpur in the aftermath of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination on October 31, 1984.
After the filing of the report, action could not be taken due to lack of evidence and witnesses.
The SIT has identified more than 80 accused. On verification, it was found that only 66 accused are alive.
SIT Superintendent of Police Balendu Bhushan Singh said, "The testimony of one or two is pending. Other operations have been completed. The accused will be arrested soon after completing the paperwork. We have identified a dozen rioters who were involved in several murders."
The state government had set up the SIT on February 5, 2019, to inquire into the circumstances leading to the deadly riots. The team was set up after the apex court issued notice to the state government in August 2017 on a petition seeking SIT probe into the riots.
The four-member SIT is headed by retired Uttar Pradesh DGP Atul. The other members are retired district judge Subhash Chandra Agarwal and retired additional director (prosecution) Yogeshwar Krishna Srivastava. SP Balendu Bhushan Singh is its member secretary.
On Thursday night, Shah reached to Nadda's residence and meeting between the two leaders lasted for about an hour. The Shah-Nadda meeting came after a series of events. Earlier, on Wednesday, Amarinder met Shah.
The police identified the victim as hakeem Satnam Singh who was attacked at his clinic on Thursday in the limits of Faqirabad police station. A police official said that unknown assailants, whose number could not be ascertained, opened fire on the victim and managed to escape from the scene, the Dawn news report said.
Chief Secretary H.K. Diwedi held an emergency meeting with the District Magistrates and Superintendent of Polices of West and East Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly, and Howrah on Thursday evening and took stock of the situation. After that the state government decided to deploy the Army in certain areas. However, NDRF teams have been kept on standby.
According to sources, Amarinder Singh will convene a meeting of leaders close to him in a few days to consider the formation of his new party, which will include all the leaders of the anti-Sidhu faction.
The arrested persons have been identified as Abdul Khalid, Shriram Chaurasia, Zishan Ahmad, Vikas Kesarwani and Krishna Kumar. Inspector (Kareli) Anupam Sharma said the arrested persons had sold SIM cards to law-breakers at high prices after creating fake IDs.
The ex-CM of Punjab recalled that Rawat himself had publicly stated after meeting him that he was satisfied by his government's track record on the 2017 poll promises.
