UK based man wants to depose before SIT concerning 1984 anti-Sikh riots

Sanjay Suri, a UK based journalist, has come forward to depose before the SIT which is investigating the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 that took place following the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. This could mount trouble for Congress leader and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

New Delhi: UK based journalist Sanjay Suri, responding to a public notice by Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, has requested the agency to give him "appropriate date, time and venue" as he wants to record his statement before it on the killings.

In a letter to the probe agency on Sunday, he was claimed that he was one of the eyewitnesses and wants to depose before it. "You are requested to give me an appropriate date, time and venue to record my statement before you," he wrote in the letter.

The development in the case could mount trouble for Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath concerning the 35-year-old carnage in Delhi and some other places. The Congress leader was an accused in the case initially, but the case was shut against him in want of evidence.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had already given its permission to reopen the case, as a result of which Nath will face fresh inquiry for his alleged role in the massacre of Sikhs in the aftermath of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination in New Delhi on October 31, 1984.

Last week, Siromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said case against Nath was closed due to a technical glitch.

The central government set up a special investigation team to re open the cases concerning the killings of 1984. The SIT recently reopened the case 601/84 and gave public notice inviting witnesses for the same.

Meanwhile, Nath refuted all allegations, saying: "There is no case, FIR, or chargesheet against me... you can understand politics behind this."