CBI takes Tytler’s voice sample as fresh evidence found in 1984 riots case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recorded the voice samples of Congress leader and anti-Sikh riots accused Jagdish Tytler in its forensic lab on Tuesday.

The agency has found fresh evidence in the 39-year-old riots case making it necessary to have the voice sample of Tytler. News agency ANI posted a video of Tytler speaking to the media after submitting his voice sample to the CBI.

"What have I done? If there's evidence against me, then I'm prepared to hang myself. It wasn't related to the 1984 riots case for which they wanted my voice (sample), but another case," he claimed while talking to reporters.

Tytler & anti-Sikh riots

Tytler is one of the top Congress leaders suspected of his role in 1984 riots. Other prominent names are: Sajjan Kumar, who stands convicted for life and is serving a jail term for his involvement in the riots, H.K.L. Bhagat, who is no more now, and Kamal Nath, who too managed to come out clean and even rose to become the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh later.

In Tytler's case, the CBI had filed three closure reports in 2007, 2009 and 2014 after a long and tardy investigation. But Delhi's Karkardooma court rejected the CBI closure reports on December 4, 2015, on the protest petition by Lakhwinder Kaur, who lost her husband in the Gurdwara Pul Bangash attack. The court had also asked the CBI to continue with its probe.

Though the Nanavati Commission had hinted at his role in the riots, successive Congress governments did not show any inclination to press charges against him. In fact, he was inducted as a minister after Congress-led UPA came to power at the Centre. But people have never absolved Tytler of the charges in the last three decades and the issue keeps coming back to haunt him time and again.