NEW DELHI (TIP): The Centre-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has filed chargesheets in only four of the 59 anti-Sikh riot cases taken up for further probe. Almost 3,000 people were killed, most of them in Delhi, in the riots that broke out after the assassination of then PM Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.

In a status report filed in the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said while 38 cases have been closed, 17 are under investigation. “It is being ensured that the investigation is carried out expeditiously and thoroughly,” the report, filed on the directions of the apex court, says. The MHA, which extended the SIT tenure till August 11 this year, has written to the Delhi Government and the Delhi High Court for designating a single court to hear the cases. The SIT has been notified as a police station with jurisdiction over the entire Delhi.

Also, of the 293 cases taken up for scrutiny, 199 have been closed with preliminary enquiries (PEs) held in 35 cases. “A large number of representations related to these cases were received from the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and private persons/bodies, which are being examined by the SIT,” says the report. The SIT has recorded statements of more than 1,000 witnesses, including one from New York.