3.5.13

Sajjan acquitted


In a verdict pronounced behind closed doors, a trial court has acquitted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar of all charges, including that of murder, in a case where five persons of a family were killed in Delhi Cantonment area during the 1984 riots following then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination on Oct 31, 1984, by two of her Sikh bodyguards.
District and sessions judge J R Aryan let Kumar off due to lack of evidence. Five others were convicted even as protests erupted inside and outside the courtroom against the Kumar’s acquittal. One person hurled a shoe at the judge as he read out the judgment.
Before the pronouncement, which was deferred by around an hour, police cordoned off the courtroom area. Minutes before the verdict, Kumar was taken to the courtroom with full security. Kumar was later spirited away from the exit meant for judges as police feared attacks.
While ex-councillor Balwan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal were held guilty of murder (section 302, maximum punishment death), Mahender Yadav and ex-MLA Kishan Khokkar were convicted for the offence of rioting.
The court’s order came as a blow to the CBI, which had accused Kumar and others of instigating the mob which killed five – Kehar Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Raghuvender Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh – in Delhi Cantonment’s Raj Nagar area. This particular case was registered only in 2005 – 21 years after the killing – on a recommendation by Justice G T Nanavati Commission. The trial court had in May 2010 framed charges against Kumar and the five others.
The CBI had based its case on the statement of the complainant and eyewitness Jagdish Kaur, whose husband Kehar and son Gurpreet were killed. Other eyewitnesses included Jagsher Singh and Nirpreet Kaur. The CBI had also accused the Delhi Police of doing everything to shield Kumar and being more interested in collecting evidence against complainant Jagdish Kaur. The CBI told the court there was a conspiracy of “terrifying proportion” between Kumar and the cops. CBI had also alleged that in all complaints, wherever Kumar’s name had cropped up, it was “immediately eliminated” from police records.Interestingly, Kumar had produced several Delhi Police officers as defence witnesses. Kumar still faces trial in another 1984 rioting case. In a third case, Delhi Police has filed a closure report, saying there was no evidence against Kumar to implicate him. The Delhi Police had earlier probed the riots case and the investigation was handed over to CBI in 2005.

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