In the dock after a court ordered reopening of a case for his alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Congress leader Jagdish Tytler on Thursday offered to quit politics if charges against him were proved.
Mr. Tytler, who claimed that witnesses had changed their statements number of times, said he was ready to undergo a lie detector test and dared them to also submit themselves to the test.
“If the court frames charges against me, I will not stay for a minute in any position which I hold because this will cause a lot of embarrassment to the party and I consider the party above everything else,” Mr. Tytler told NDTV.
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He is the party in-charge of Odisha and a member of the Congress Working Committee.
Not ruling out the possibility of the witnesses being planted, he said all of them, including himself and lawyer of the riot victims H.S. Phoolka, should be put to a lie detector test.
“Anybody can make a statement against anybody, but the statement must be examined. The truth must come out. There is a possibility that some of the witnesses were planted. Those two witnesses [Surinder Singh and Jasbir Singh] and myself and Phoolka, we should all have this lie detection test.”
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The Congress leader claimed that he was not present at the scene of crime and that he was “100 per cent open” for a probe into the carnage.
“I have produced a footage by Doordarshan which shows that I was present with the body of Mrs. [Indira] Gandhi from 7 a.m. to 3 O’ clock. How can I be at two places at the same time,” he said.
He was particularly critical of Surinder and Jasbir, blaming them for the reopening of the case against him.
“My name comes back on the basis of the statement made by Surinder Singh and Jasbir Singh. Surinder Singh first gave a statement in English and then gave a written statement in Gurumukhi. I want to know why Phoolka forced Surinder Singh to write a statement,” Mr. Tytler said.