NEW DELHI: Even as the Sajjan Kumar issue is making ways, one of the two committee members who had recommended the murder case has thrown a bombshell, Mr Padam Rosha, former DGP of Jammu and Kashmir, wrote to the Delhi administration asking to be relieved from the committee on September 21.
The present term of the Poti Rosha committee inquiring into the November 84 riots is due to expire on that date. But given the volume of work still pending the six month old committee is expected to be given an extension. Mr Rosha has stated in his letter that he wanted to be relieved “purely for health and other personal reasons”.
When asked if his departure at this stage would not affect the drive to book the culprits. Mr Rosha told this reporter that he had no such apprehension because the committee had got into gear.
The committee in fact came up last week with the second batch of 19 murder cases. Thirteen of these are meant for registration, while the rest are for reinvestigation. The administration is still processing these recommendations.
The Sajjan Kumar case which was registered by the CBI on September 7 was from the first batch of 11 cases sent last month, Out of these, the administration had accepted the committee’s recommendations regarding all the nine meant for registration.
EIGHT MORE CASES: While the CBI, was chosen to handle the Sajjan Kumar case in view of its political consist, the Delhi police registered the other eight on September 6 and 7.
There is one striking difference in the manner in which the two agencies are dealing with their respective cases, The CBI has sought to arrest all the eight accused persons (though it succeeded in nabbing only five because the rest, including Sajjan Kumar, obtained anticipatory bails). But the Delhi Police so far has not felt any need to arrest a single accused person in the cases it is investigating.
The ‘DCP (crime branch), Mr R. Tewan, who is overseeing the investigation in Delhi police, says “We can arrest a person only when there is clear evidence against him. Otherwise we could be guilty of wrongful confinement… We have to write in our case diaries that sufficient evidence has come on record to arrest a person we are answerable to the courts, you see.”
When asked if the investigation so far has been promising, Mi Tewari said: “We can’t say what will be the outcome of the investigation Though the five year delay in registering the cases has made our task that much difficult, there is no reason to fear we will not get any clinching evidence”.
The Delhi police, in keeping with the PotiRosha committee’s recommendation, has constituted two special teams in the crime branch to deal with the riot cases. These teams are headed by an assistant commissioner of police. Mr K.P. Sharma, who in tum reports to Mr Tewari.
Of the eight cases being investigated by them, five are from Nand Nagari, two from Jahangirpuriand one from Bhajan pura.
Black Cats shot dead 10 people and abducted 10 security men on Monday.
Five passengers were injured when militants fired indiscriminately on the mail between Beas and Rayya station on the Jalandhar Amritsar section Tuesday night.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 21, 1990
