Court reserves order on 'missing' charge sheet on Sajjan Kumar

A Delhi court will pronounce on Thursday its order on a plea seeking direction on a charge sheet prepared by Delhi police against senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case but which was never filed.

Citing sufficient evidence to proceed against Kumar, the charge sheet against him in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case was prepared in 1992 but was never brought before a judge to seek his prosecution.

District judge SK Sarvaria heard arguments of Delhi police, special prosecutor as well as victim's counsel and reserved his order on the application filed by the prosecutor seeking a direction with regard to the charge sheet against the former outer Delhi MP.

The judge said that the court would pronounce its order on the application on October 21.

Special public prosecutor submitted that the charge sheet cannot be clubbed or tagged with another case as Kumar was an accused in one case only.

"The charge sheet was prepared in the case based on FIR number 67/87 at Nangloi police station here, naming Sajjan Kumar as an accused on April 8, 1992, but it was kept in the police file and never brought before the court," the prosecutor told the court.

The FIR was clubbed with another riots case in which the trial was already on, he said.

During the arguments, victims' counsel senior advocate HS Phoolka alleged that this was a classic case showing as to what extent Delhi police could go to protect Kumar.

They did not file the charge sheet in the court for 18 years, he submitted.

Additional DCP Rajiv Ranjan, who also appeared before the court, said the two cases relating to the incidents were clubbed on the legal opinion provided by the prosecution branch.

An FIR was registered in 1991 with regard to the killing of five persons in Nangloi here during the riots that took place in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.

Kumar, along with five others, was mentioned as an accused in the case but the police dropped the name of the politician.

This case was clubbed with another FIR (no 67/87) with regard to the killing of four persons in which Kumar was the sole accused. The police prepared the charge sheet in this case but allegedly never produced it before the court to seek his prosecution.