On Tuesday, April 11, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) summoned former Congress MP Jagdish Tytler to question him in a case related to a fire at Delhi’s Pul Bangash Gurudwara during the 1984 Sikh riots. The central agency had reportedly summoned the former Congress leader to the CFSL Lab to collect his voice sample as new evidence has emerged in the case.
Congress leader Jagdish Tytler appears before CBI in Delhi for giving his voice sample, in connection Pul Bangash gurdwara case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. CFSL to examine the voice samples.
— ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2023
(file photo) pic.twitter.com/zJiwidXCSW
Tytler arrived at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in the CGO Complex, where his voice sample was collected by experts after which he was allowed to leave.
Tytler was summoned as CBI wants to match his voice samples with the voice of a person who allegedly confessed to rioting in a sting video released by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 2018. Tytler had denied at the time that he was the person in the sting.
The investigating agency has also requested Manjit Singh GK, the Sikh leader who released the sting videos in 2018, to join the investigation. Additionally, reports suggest that CBI may also contact the Delhi police to check if there are any police control room recordings from 1984 that can shed fresh light on this case.
CBI in its letter to Manjit Singh GK said, “The evidentiary value of the voice sample will be tested in due course. Legal opinion will be taken. But at this stage, we do want to look at all the new evidence that is coming up.”
Notably, in 2018, Manjit Singh GK, who was then the DSGMC president and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) national spokesperson, released a series of five video clips before the media, claiming that an unknown man on February 3, 2018, handed over an envelope to his security guards. The envelope had GK’s name written over it with the instruction “to be opened only by GK.” It contained a pen drive having the five video clips allegedly recorded in 2011 and some documents of transcripts thereof, he added.
GK alleged that in clip 3, Tytler has admitted that he has killed 100 Sikhs and nothing happened to him except a sham enquiry.
The Pul Bangash Gurudwara fire during the 1984 Sikh riots
The case against Jagdish Tytler, who continues to hold sway in the Congress party, was one of the three cases the Nanavati Commission, a one-man commission appointed by the BJP-led government in May 2000, had ordered to be reopened by the CBI in 2005.
Tytler is accused of leading a mob in the 1984 Pul Bangash case in which three Sikhs, namely Badal Singh, Thakur Singh and, Gurcharan Singh were killed during the riots at Gurudwara Pul Bangash in North Delhi on November 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of then-prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
An eye witness account of the Pull Bangash Gurudwara fire
In fact, in 2017, Surinder Singh, who was the head granthi of Gurudwara Pul Bangash near Delhi’s Azad Market, told the media how Jagdish Tytler had played a crucial role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He recalled, “On the morning of November 1, 1984, a big mob which was carrying sticks, iron rods and kerosene oil attacked the Gurudwara. The crowd was led by our area’s member of parliament of Congress (I) Jagdish Tytler. He incited the crowd to set the Gurudwara on fire and kill the Sikhs. A few people were holding the flags of the Congress party and were raising slogans such as, ‘The revenge of blood will be taken by blood, the Sikhs are traitors, kill them, burn them’. Five to six policemen were also with the crowd. On incitement by Tytler, they attacked the gurudwara and set it on fire. Thakur Singh, who was a retired inspector of Delhi police and an employee of the Gurudwara managing committee, was killed by the crowd. Badal Singh, who was the sewadar of the gurudwara, was burnt alive. I witnessed this incident helplessly from the upper floor of the Gurudwara. The gurudwara too was set on fire, but the fire did not reach the upper floor.”
Lopsided Investigation into the 1984 Sikh Genocide
After the massacre, in which over 2700 people were killed, various committees and commissions were formed to identify the perpetrators, however, no committee accused Congress loyalists Jagdish Tytler or Sajjan Kumar of any charges relating to the 1984 riots.
The May 2000 Nanavati Commission, a one-man commission appointed by the BJP-led government, however, found “credible evidence” against Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar. The Nanavati Commission named Tytler as one of the organisers of the riots. It asserted, based on evidence, that Tytler was also an accused in the killing of three Sikhs outside the Gurudwara in his constituency.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), tasked with probing the case, closed all cases against Tytler for his alleged role in engineering riots against Sikhs. The CBI submitted a report to the Delhi court in 2007 which stated that no evidence or witness had been found to corroborate the allegations of instigating a crowd during the riots against Tytler.
In 2014, the CBI filed its third closure report (earlier closure reports were filed in 2007 and 2009), again giving a clean chit to the Congress loyalist. However, Delhi’s Karkardooma courts rejected the third CBI closure report on December 4, 2015, and asked the CBI to continue its probe in the wake of the allegation levelled by Abhishek Verma, an eye witness in the case pertaining to the fire that took place at Delhi’s Pul Bangash Gurudwara during the 1984 Sikh riots.
In 2019, noting the sensitive nature of the matter, a Delhi court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to expedite investigations into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and re-investigate the role of Congress leader Jagdish Tytler and the other accused in the case.
How Congress has always supported Jagdish Tytler despite serious allegations against him
Despite serious allegations against Jagdish Tytler and his alleged direct involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre, the Congress has never taken any punitive action against him nor have they ever attempted to disassociate themselves from him. Tytler has, in fact, until today, remained a mainstay of the party’s Delhi unit, often attending meetings and weighing in on matters of import.
Jagdish Tytler was subsequently given tickets to contest the election by the Indian National Congress and also made Union Minister of Civil Aviation first and then the labour department. He had contested the 2004 elections and won as well. He was finally dropped as a candidate during the 2009 polls.
In December 2022, Tytler was seen attending Congress Delhi Unit’s meeting over the preparations for the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He was also seen campaigning for the Congress party in the run-up to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections.
Notably, in February 2023, the name of Tytler again made headlines, when he was elected as an All India Congress Committee (AICC) member. Also, last month, Jagdish Tytler joined the Congress protest at Raj Ghat, where the party carried out ‘Sankalp Satyagraha’ against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi.
