Delhi elections 2015: SIT for 1984 riots cases a 'poll gimmick', says AAP

NEW DELHI: Terming it a "poll gimmick", Aam Aadmi Party today said the Centre was floating reports of a possible move to set up an SIT for re-investigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases with an eye on the impending Delhi Assembly polls.

Party leader and senior advocate H S Phoolka wondered why the BJP government had not let the SIT announced by the AAP government to probe the matter instead.

"The AAP government had already formed an SIT. Why did not they let it function in the last nine months? Now they are floating reports of forming another SIT. It is nothing but a poll gimmick," he said at a press conference here.

A government-appointed committee has recommended constitution of a SIT for re-investigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases.

The committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice (retd) G P Mathur has submitted its report to Home Minister Rajnath Singh last week and recommended fresh probe of the anti-Sikh riot cases through a Special Investigation Team, official sources said.

On the government's recent decision to provide additional Rs 5 lakh compensation to the kin of Sikhs killed in the 1984 riots, he claimed only 17 people had received the compensation amount till date.

"Our government will ensure that the families of all the victims receive compensation within a month. We will also form the SIT and make it functional," Phoolka said.