Sikh riots: Delhi HC seeks police reply on Abhishek Verma's contempt plea for not providing security

The Delhi High Court on Monday asked two senior Delhi Police officers to file a reply on a contempt petition filed by controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma, a witness in a 1984 anti-Sikh riot case, alleging non-compliance of an order to grant security to him.

A bench of Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva sought to know from the Delhi Police officials on non-compliance of court's order to continue to providing security to Verma and said that he is an important witness in the case. The bench also asked what may happen if some unfortunate incident happened to him.

Verma has sought contempt action against Additional Deputy Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police of South District Delhi Police alleging that they have not complied with the directions passed by a trial court.

Verma told the court that on August 4, Delhi Police at night handed over the formal order for withdrawing the security of the petitioner and thus leaving the petitioner and his family members unprotected and vulnerable.

On August 18, he immediately approached the trial court, which observed that "considering the sensitive nature of the case and its history, the DCP concerned is requested to ensure that for a further period of 1 month which may be required by the petitioner to approach the appropriate forum, the previous arrangement for providing security may be continued".

Even after the trial court's order, the plea said that the Delhi Police deliberately and willfully chose not to obey and comply with the direction of the court by not providing proper police protection of three police personnel (24x7) to the petitioner and his family members.

Verma is a witness in the case pertains to the riots at Gurudwara Pulbangash in North Delhi where three people were killed on November 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who has denied any role in the riots, was given a clean chit by the CBI thrice in the case, but the agency was directed by the court to further investigate the matter. The victims had filed a protest petition challenging the CBI's closure reports in the case.

The court had in December 2015 directed the CBI to further investigate the matter and decided to monitor it every two months to ensure that no aspect is left uninvestigated.

The agency had reinvestigated the case of the killing of Badal Singh, Thakur Singh and Gurcharan Singh near the gurudwara after a court in December 2007 refused to accept its closure report. The CBI has filed three closure reports in the case.

( With inputs from ANI )