Victim identifies Sajjan Kumar as accused in 1984 riots trial

One of the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots today identified in a Delhi court senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar as an accused who had allegedly provoked the mob to kill his brothers during the carnage after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

"It was an Ambassador car. On seeing that 30-40 persons collected there, from that car Sajjan Kumar, MP, came out and he inquired from the persons as to whether they have done the work, which has been assigned to them...

"He told those persons that they have not done the assigned work properly. One of the persons told him that they are helpless as the thekedars (contractors) are being saved by Hindus only. Thereupon, Kumar told them those Hindus who are giving shelters to Sikhs be killed and their houses burnt," witness Jagsher Singh told Additional Sessions Judge Sunita Gupta.

Testifying as prosecution witness, Singh alleged that following the instruction by the leader the mob got excited and looted his house at Raj Nagar here before setting it on fire.

The witness identified Kumar, former outer Delhi MP, in the court.

"I knew Sajjan Kumar because our area was quite backward and there was sewage problem and he had come to listen to our grievances... I can identify Sajjan Kumar who is present in the court today," Singh said.

He also narrated how the mob went on a killing spree during the riots on November one and two in 1984.

Singh told the court how he recovered half-burnt bodies of his brothers during the riots.

Singh, who was just 17-18 years of age at the time of the riots, is one of the victims and his three elders brothers were killed during the carnage.

He is a cousin of complainant Jagdish Kaur whose husband Kehar Singh and a son were also killed during the riots.

Kaur had on July 3 identified Kumar and his nephew Khokkar, and other accused Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal as accomplices who had allegedly instigated mobs during the 1984 carnage.

Kaur's family members, including her husband, were killed in the riots.

The CBI had filed two chargesheets against Kumar and others on January 13 in the riots cases registered in 2005 on the recommendation of the GT Nanavati Commission.

Sajjan Kumar is facing prosecution in two cases in which he was accused of inciting a mob against the Sikh community in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination.

The trial court had in May this year framed charges against Kumar and five others under Sections 302 (murder), 395 (dacoity), 427 (mischief to cause damage to property), 153A (promoting enmity between different communities) and other provisions of IPC.

The CBI had accused Kumar of provoking people against members of the Sikh community during the carnage that led to the killing of several persons in Delhi Cantonment area.

Besides Kumar, other accused in the case are Balwan Khokhar, Krishan Khokhar, Mahender Yadav, Captain Bhagmal and Girdhari Lal.