Trouble for Nath as 1984 riots witness deposes before SIT

New Delhi: In more trouble for senior Congress leader and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Mukhtyar Singh, a witness in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to record his statement.

Singh arrived at the SIT office in south Delhi's area of Khan Market and shared the details of the incidents that took place with the SIT members. This was for the first time that Singh appeared before the three-member SIT team to record his statement. After coming out of the SIT, Singh said he cannot reveal what he told the SIT as the matter was under investigation.

According to sources, Singh apprised the SIT members consisting of a senior IPS officer, a Deputy Commissioner of Police and a retired District and Sessions judge. The case pertains to the killing of Sikhs in Gurudwara Rakabganj on November 1, 1984, by a charged mob.

On September 9, the Union Home Ministry has given its nod for reopening the case, as a result of which Kamal Nath will face a 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.

Kamal Nath was an accused in the case initially, but the court had found no evidence against him. The 72-year-old veteran Congress leader and a Gandhi family loyalist, is facing trouble as London-based journalist Sanjay Suri has also expressed readiness to depose in the case. Suri had written to the SIT on September 15 asking it to give him the appropriate time and date to appear.

Suri's letter was shared by Shiromani Akali Dal leader Manjinder Sirsa on Twitter. The SIT is likely to consider fresh evidence against the veteran Congress leader, which allegedly mentions that he had instigated a mob near the capital's Gurudwara Rakabganj during the 1984 riots.

The Modi government had set up the SIT in 2015 to probe the 1984 riots.

Pressure on Kamal Nath has been building since last year after the conviction of Sajjan Kumar in the same case by the Delhi High Court. Kumar, after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, was accused of inciting and orchestrating mob violence against the Sikh community across Delhi.

Kamal Nath's name featured alongside other Congress leaders of the time - Kumar, H.K.L. Bhagat, and Jagdish Tytler, among others.