The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is further investigating the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases of Kanpur and has been given a six-month extension till November this year, has not been able to trace the complainants and the witnesses of four cases. The anti-Sikh riots in Kanpur that erupted in the wake of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had left 127 people dead. In order to jumpstart its probe in the four stalled cases, involving the murder of nine persons, the SIT has requested the UP Information Department to publish details of the four cases in newspapers in Punjab as they suspect that the victims' families could have moved there. “After reading the case details in newspapers, people could come forward to help the SIT in the investigation. Telephone numbers of SIT members would be mentioned along with the details of the case in the newspapers," said Superintendent of Police and SIT member, Balendu Bhushan. The SIT has also written a letter to SSP Kanpur to circulate pamphlets and paste posters seeking information from the public about those four cases. “So far, we have little information and documents of those four cases. For investigation, we need to speak to witnesses of the case,” Bhushan added. The BJP government had last year ordered the formation of the SIT to examine the 1,251 cases that were filed in Kanpur following the riots. The SIT shortlisted 39 cases of murder and dacoity in which the Kanpur police had earlier filed chargsheet in 11 and closure report in the remaining 28. After going through chargesheets of 11 cases, the SIT sent a report to the state government seeking permission to file an appeal against the lower court’s judgment in five of them. The agency has already begun an investigation into 16 of the total 28 cases in which closure reports were filed. In the remaining 12 cases, the inquiry is being done into eight to decide if there is any need to investigate further. In the four others, the SIT is yet to contact any witness and collect documents related to the case. "To get more information in the 28 cases, we have sought permission from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to review the inquiry report of Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission. We believe that the Commission during its probe could have recorded the statement of victims of riots linked to our cases,” Bhushan said. "We could use those statements in our probe and move further in the investigation. We have obtained permission from the MHA and our team would be going to Delhi to study the report,” Bhushan added.
