
Casting aspersions on the CBI8217;s impartiality, the BJP on Tuesday said the court should monitor the agency8217;s reinvestigation of a 1984 anti-Sikh riot case which it has directed.
8220;The CBI8217;s role in the whole episode had been suspicious.
The court should monitor on a routine basis to see whether the investigation is going on the right track,8221; BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said in New Delhi.
The main Opposition party demanded action against leaders who were allegedly involved in the 8220;massacre8221; in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Javadekar alleged that the CBI tried to save the accused in the case and even told the court that a key eyewitness was untraceable.
8220;The CBI even treated the witness as an accused,8221; he alleged.
8220;We welcome the court8217;s direction to CBI to reinvestigate the riot case, but it should monitor the probe in every week or two,8221; he said.
8220;What had happened in 1984 was not a riot. It was a massacre sponsored by the ruling Congress. It will be a matter of concern for the judicial system if the culprits go scot free,8221; he added.
Javadekar, however, parried a question on the Gujarat government8217;s stand in the Supreme Court that a CBI probe was not needed into the post-Godhra riots.
8220;We have not taken any different stand. We have fullest respect for the highest court of the land,8221; he merely said when asked why there was a different stand when it comes to a CBI probe into the Gujarat riots.