New Delhi  - India's federal investigation bureau on Thursday cleared former federal minister Jagdish Tytler of allegations that he led the deadly 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of former premier Indira Gandhi, news reports said.

More than 3,000 Sikhs were killed by rioting mobs of Congress Party sympathizers and leaders after Gandhi was shot by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

A few months earlier, Gandhi had ordered troops to storm the Golden Temple, the Sikhs' holiest shrine in the northern town of Amritsar to flush out armed militants.

At least 2,000 Sikhs were killed in riots in the national capital alone. Tytler, who was among the Congress Party leaders accused of leading rioting mobs, denied the allegations.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) initially looked into the case after a commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge said it had found credible evidence against Tytler.

The CBI, however, closed the case in November 2007, saying there was no evidence of Tytler's role in the riots. But a man who lost 26 relatives in the riots later claimed he saw Tytler leading a mob that set fire to a Sikh temple in Delhi. Three Sikhs were burnt to death in the attack.

The court reopened the case and asked the CBI to carry out further investigations. The CBI submitted its final report to a Delhi court after questioning the witness.

The report, which was opened in court on Thursday, said the investigative agency wanted to close the case, IANS and PTI news agencies reported.

As the CBI decision was made public, large groups of Sikhs staged protests outside the court and the Congress Party office, raising slogans against the party, the CBI and Tytler.

The timing of the "clean chit" to Tytler was criticized by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

The CBI has often been accused of following the orders of the party in power.

"Truth has come out once again. I was given a clean chit earlier also. But a political conspiracy was hatched against me," Tytler said. (dpa)