New Delhi/Amritsar, Apr 4 : Sikhs have stepped up protests against the clean chit given by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

"The clean chit given to Tytler has left the entire Sikh community infuriated," said Kuldeep Singh, a protester.

Sikhs want the government to take action against Tytler, who the report said, may have instigated rioters after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was killed by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984.

Meanwhile in Amritsar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised the government, saying the CBI had become a mere puppet.

"The government''s cowardice is obvious to the entire country. The investigative agencies are expected to behave in a professional way, but investigative agencies have become mere puppets. The investigative agencies are giving clean chits to people because of whom the Prime Minister had to apologise in front of the Parliament. If nothing was wrong, there was no need to say sorry," said Navjot Singh Siddhu, BJP MP from Amritsar.

The Congress party-led coalition government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself a Sikh, has said it would take no action against Tytler as the panel had found no conclusive evidence against him. Tytler has denied the charges.

Tytler was among the three prominent leaders named in the reports on anti-Sikh riots, the other two being Sajjan Kumar and the late H. K. L. Bhagat. (ANI)