SIT probing Kanpur anti-Sikh riots submitsreport; disbanded

Kanpur: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh riots of the city that claimed 127 lives, has completed the investigation and submitted the closure report to the state government.Following this, the SIT has been disbanded and the government has now nominated the Kanpur commissionerate police to initiate further legal proceedings.In the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her two security personnel, 127 Sikhs were killed in Kanpur in the anti-Sikh riots.Nearly 40 cases of murder, robbery and dacoity were registered, in which 29 were closed by the police by submitting a final report.When the state government constituted an SIT for investigation, out of 29 cases that were finalized, the investigation started again and in 14 cases, the SIT got the evidence.The SIT was set up on May 27, 2019, after the apex court issued notice to the state government in August 2017 on a petition seeking SIT probe into the riots. The four-member SIT was headed by retired UP DGP Atul. The other members were retired district judge Subhash Chandra Agarwal and retired additional director (prosecution) Yogeshwar Krishna Srivastava. Senior IPS officer Balendu Bhushan Singh was made its member-secretary.In the investigation that lasted for almost for more than three and a half years, the SIT started making arrests in June last year after collecting evidence in nine cases.DIG SIT Balendu Bhushan said on Friday, “The SIT has completed its investigation in this matter and the closure report has been submitted to the government recently. The government has accepted the SIT probe, after which the SIT has been disbanded. Kanpur commissionerate police has been designated for further legal proceedings.” The DIG said that 96 accused were identified in the nine cases investigated by the SIT where evidence was found. “During investigation, it came to fore that 36 of these accused had already died. The police since June last year arrested 43 accused and sent them to jail, while a charge sheet was filed against the remaining 16 accused without arrest. Of the 16 accused, 10 were not arrested due to old age or serious illness, while six are absconding,” he said.