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.
The deceased, a resident of Nachinola village in North Goa, was missing since Wednesday morning and a missing complaint was filed by her father with a local police station.
The area has been cordoned off and additional forces have reached the spot. Police said the terrorists involved in firing have been trapped and an operation has been started by the police and security forces.
Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Anurag Thakur, Bhupender Yadav, V. Muraleedharan and Arjun Ram Meghwal held a joint press conference at the Shastri Bhavan here on Thursday and condemned the 'unruly' and 'violent' behaviour of the opposition parties led by the Congress.
Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states as well as where the party is in power as part of an alliance, including Tamil Nadu's M.K. Stalin (DMK), Maharashtra's Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena) and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren (JMM) will also be invited.
Besides, the All India Congress Committee, the Maharashtra and Mumbai verified Congress handles, that of Congress Legislative Party leader and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, Mumbai Congress President Bhai Jagtap, state party social media head Abhijeet Sapkal, and around 500 other leaders at various level have been blocked on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the wreckage of the state roadways bus that fell into a 500 metre deep gorge following the massive landslide was recovered this morning, rescuers said.
