The CBI claimed before a Delhi court on Tuesday that eyewitnesses saw Congress leader Jagdish Tytler incite a mob during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots which led to the killing of three people in Pul Bangash area of the national capital.

The CBI made the claim before Special Judge Rakesh Syal and urged the court to frame charges against Tytler, a former union minister, in the case.

“There is sufficient evidence to frame charges against Tytler. There are eyewitnesses who saw him incite the mob during the 1984 riots,” the agency told the court.

The CBI concluded its arguments on the framing of charges against Tytler.

The judge posted the matter for further hearing on January 22, after the counsel for Tytler sought time to advance arguments.

A magisterial court had on September 11, 2023 sent the case to the district judge for further proceedings.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidhi Gupta Anand forwarded the case to the district judge so the matter could be committed to a sessions judge, noting that Tytler was accused of murder (punishable under sections 302 of IPC), an offence “exclusively triable” by a sessions court.

The offence entails the maximum punishment of death penalty in the rarest of rare cases.

A sessions court had earlier granted anticipatory bail to Tytler. While granting him the relief, it had imposed certain conditions on him, including that he will not tamper with the evidence in the case or leave the country without court's permission.

Three people were killed and a gurdwara was set ablaze in Pul Bangash on November 1, 1984, a day after the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.

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