NEW DELHI – The Union home ministry has given an extension of one year to the Special Investigation Team, set up by the government for conducting a fresh probe into the 1984 massacre of Sikhs cases.
The SIT was set up in February 12 for six months following a recommendation by a committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge, justice (retd) GP Mathur. The committee was set up to look into the possibility of re-investigation of the 1984 riots.
“The SIT so far has submitted few preliminary reports to the home ministry as it looks into the record of cases,” said a home ministry official, requesting anonymity.
The SIT is re-investigating all serious cases of anti-Sikh riots of 1984 by examining records of all police stations — Delhi as well as other states — where the riots had taken place and also examining the findings of the justice SD Jain and justice DK Agarwal committees. The home ministry has asked the SIT to take appropriate steps for a thorough probe and file a chargesheet in appropriate courts with available evidence.
It is headed by senior IPS officer Pramode Asthana. The two other members of the SIT are Rakesh Kapur, a retired district and sessions judge, and Kumar Gyanesh, additional DCP of the Delhi Police.
Asthana is looking after the day-to-day functioning of the SIT while Kapur looks after cases in which chargesheets were filed but did not make any headway. Gyanesh is probing FIRs which did not make any headway in probe.
