Anti-Sikh riots: Delhi court asks police to continue giving security to witness Abhishek Verma
Aug 18, 2020
New Delhi [India], Aug 18 : A Delhi court on Tuesday asked the police to continue giving security to controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma, a witness in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, for a month and reassess the threat perception to his life.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Harjyot Singh Bhalla also directed the concerned Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) to assess the threat of life of senior advocate HS Phoolka, who is contesting the legal battle for the various complainants in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
Verma is a witness in the 1984 riots case against former Congress leader Jagdish Tytler.
The court order came after taking note of a Delhi High Court letter, which had asked the police commissioner to enhance the security granted to Verma. The court also said that Verma may approach the High Court in the matter.
Verma, in his application, said that the security cover given to him was withdrawn suddenly by the Delhi Police without any prior intimation and without re-evaluating threat perception to him.
He urged the court to direct the police to immediately reinstate the round-the-clock police security cover. Verma also sought a direction to the Intelligence Bureau and/or Special Cell Delhi Police to re-evaluate the threat perception upon him.
The case pertains to the riots at Gurudwara Pulbangash in North Delhi where three people were killed on November 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who has denied any role in the riots, was given a clean chit by the CBI thrice in the case. However, the agency was directed by the court to further investigate the matter, after the families of some victims filed a protest petition challenging the CBI's closure reports in the case.
The court had in December 2015 directed the CBI to further investigate the matter and decided to monitor it every two months to ensure that no aspect is left uninvestigated.
The agency had reinvestigated the case of the killing of Badal Singh, Thakur Singh and Gurcharan Singh near the gurudwara after a court in December 2007 refused to accept its closure report. The CBI has filed three closure reports in the case.
