Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: The CBI on Monday told a Delhi court here that that senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar had conspired the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in tandem with the police.
"There was a conspiracy of terrifying proportion with the complicity of police and patronage of local MP Sajjan Kumar," CBI prosecutor RS Cheema told District Judge JR Aryan.
The prosecutor said that the killings were committed on Sajjan Kumar's directions.
"In this case, the circumstances clearly show conspiracy and Sajjan Kumar is charged for the offence of conspiracy," he said.
Sajjan Kumar and five others -- Balwan Khokkar, Kishan Khokkar, Mahender Yadav, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal -- are facing trial in the killings of six people in Delhi Cantonment area during the 1984 carnage which broke after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
They are accused of instigating a mob to attack and kill the Sikhs.
"From the statement of the witnesses, it has been clearly shown that a large-scale violence took place during the riots and there was huge conspiracy between all the six accused, some unknown persons and also police officials," the prosecutor argued.
He told the court that as per police records not even a single killing took place from October 31, 1984 to November 6, 1984 in Delhi cantonment area.
Citing Nanavati Commission report, the prosecutor said, “The official casualty figures shows that during the riots 341 persons were killed, while 385 houses, 110 shops and 45 vehicles were burnt in the area".
“The attitude of the police was to minimise the magnitude of the crime,” he pointed out.
The CBI had earlier told the court that the police acted in a pre-planned manner during the riots and kept its "eyes closed" to the wide-spread violence. It had said the police "deliberately" did not act the way it was supposed to do.
The CBI had said that as per eyewitness accounts, Sajjan Kumar told the crowd that not a single Sikh should survive in the area.
The CBI based its final arguments on the statement of a woman witness who had identified Sajjan Kumar as the person “addressing a mob and instigating it to kill Sikhs during the riots”.
The trial court, in 2010, had framed charges against Sajjan 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 case against Kumar and five others was registered on the recommendation by the GT Nanavati Commission. The CBI had filed two charge sheets against him and others in January 2010.
With PTI inputs
First Published: Monday, April 23, 2012, 17:12