I do not think pressure will work… please help me: Tytler

Calling himself a ‘‘victim of perception’’, Tytler said he was ‘‘innocent’’. He maintained that his entire political career was at stake with the storm over the tabling of the Nanavati report.

He deflected questions on whether he would resign for the good of the Congress and reiterated that his party stood by him yesterday when the Nanavati report was tabled in Parliament. He said that Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi had even issued statements supporting him.

He said that not a single person had filed an FIR against him in the last 21 years and that he had not been anywhere near the scene of the riots. ‘‘Can a person be in two places at the same time? I was in Amethi on October 31, 1984 when Indira Gandhi was assassinated. I was not in Delhi. On November 1, 1984, I was at 1 Akbar Road and I went to Teen Murti,’’ he said.

Tytler also claimed that the first affidavit, filed by riot victim Surender Singh and naming him, was ‘‘false’’ and that a second affidavit had ‘‘exonerated’’ him. He said Justice Nanavati had discounted the second affidavit, saying that some kind of pressure might have been applied on Singh. ‘‘Justice Nanavati never asked me, he should have asked me,’’ he said.