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1984 riots: CBI cites witnesses who identified Sajjan
The CBI apprised a Delhi court of the statements of witnesses who had identified Congress leader Sajjan Kumar.
Advancing final arguments before District Judge J R Aryan,
CBI prosecutor and senior counsel R S Cheema cited statements
made by prosecution witnesses Jagsher Singh and his sibling
Balvinder Singh who had lost three brothers during the riots.
He told the court that Jagsher Singh had identified Sajjan
Kumar in the court as the one who had allegedly provoked the
mob to kill his brothers during riots after the assassination
of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
Singh, 45, is a cousin of complainant Jagdish Kaur whose
husband Kehar Singh and a son were also killed in the riots.
Sajjan Kumar along with five others are facing trial for
allegedly instigating a mob to kill Sikhs in Delhi cantonment
area in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
Reading out the statements made in the court, Cheema said
Singh had earlier deposed that a Hindu man was arrested by
police for providing shelter to Sikhs during the carnage.
According to the CBI, Singh had taken shelter in the house
of one Ram Avtar Sharma, who was also made a prosecution
witness in the case, at Raj Nagar here during the riots.
CBI`s arguments remained inconclusive and would continue
on April 21, the next date of hearing.
Apart from Jagsher Singh, two other witnesses Nirpreet
Kaur and Jagdish Kaur, who had also lost their family members
during the riots, had identified Sajjan Kumar in the court.
Cheema said on November 12, 1984, Balvinder Singh had gone
to police station to lodge a complaint about the killing of
his three brothers but the police officials neither registered
an FIR nor contacted him for recording his statement.
Earlier, the CBI had questioned the "conduct" of Delhi
Police while investigating the 1984 riot case alleging that it
had not recorded the statements of witnesses in a fair manner.
Cheema had said that the police official, who had gone to
record the statement of prosecution witness Jagdish Kaur, had
told her that all the accused in other 1984 riots cases have
been acquitted.
Sajjan Kumar and other five accused Kishan Khokkar,
Girdhari Lal, Mahender Yadav, Balwan Khokkar and Captain
Bhagmal are facing trial for allegedly instigating the mob to
kill the Sikhs during the 1984 riots.
The case against Sajjan Kumar was registered in 2005 on a
recommendation by Justice G T Nanavati Commission. The CBI had
filed two charge sheets against him and the other accused in
January 2010.
The trial court had in May, 2010, framed charges against
Sajjan Kumar and five others under Sections 302 (murder), 395
(dacoity), 427 (mischief to cause damage to property), 153-A
(promoting enmity between different communities) and other
provisions of the IPC.
Sajjan Kumar is facing prosecution in three separate
cases in which he has been accused of inciting a mob against
the Sikh community during the riots.
PTI