The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it was forming a new Special Investigation Team to look into 186 anti-Sikh riot cases from 1984, The Times of India reported.

The new team, headed by a retired high court judge and comprising a serving police officer and a retired Deputy Inspector General-level officer, will investigate 186 cases that have not yet been examined by the Centre-appointed Special Investigation Team, the court said.

The riots broke out on November 1, 1984, after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. At least 2,433 people died in Delhi alone.

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In August 2017, the Supreme Court appointed a panel of two retired judges to check if the decision of the Special Investigation Team formed by the Centre in 2015 to close hundreds of cases was correct.

In March 2017, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to give it records of the 199 cases that were closed. The investigation team had said there was allegedly no trace of a victim or witness in most of those cases.