1984 anti-Sikh riots: Five arrested for setting a building on fire, killing three in Kanpur
The SIT formed in 2019 on orders from Supreme Court to investigate the 1984 anti-Sikh riots has arrested 27 people so far in Kanpur
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the mass killings during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots on Wednesday arrested five more people accused of setting a building afire in which three persons were burnt to death, a senior official said.
With these fresh arrests from Nirala Nagar in Kidwai Nagar, the SIT head DIG Balendu Bhushan Singh said so far 27 people have been arrested in connection with the violence that took place following the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in Delhi.
The SIT, constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government on May 27, 2019, on the orders of the Supreme Court, has been probing the anti-Sikh riots’ cases for the last three years and efforts are on to nab more suspects, said DIG Singh.
The five arrested men are identified as Anil Kumar Pandey (61), Sriram alias Baggad (65), Mustaqeem (70), Abdul Waheed (61) and Irshad Khan (60), all residents of Kidwai Nagar.
The accused have been charged under Indian Penal Code sections 326 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons) 396 (dacoity with murder) and 436 ((mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house), he said. The accused have been sent to jail.
The DIG said the five men had allegedly accompanied dozens of others in a couple of buses to reach Nirala Nagar for setting the property of one Gurudyal Singh on fire in 1984.
Twelve families were residing at Gurudyal’s property as tenants, and during the attack, three people were burnt alive. A rioter, identified as Rajesh Gupta, was also shot dead during cross-firing, he added.
“We have been investigating 11 cases after identifying 96 prime suspects by exploring facts from witnesses settled in Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan. The SIT also found that 23 (people) have already died,” Singh said.
The crackdown against the accused started on June 15 after the SIT held four prime accused from Ghatampur followed by two arrests on June 21 and five more arrests on June 23.
On July 6, the SIT arrested four people, including two brothers, followed by four more arrests the next day. By July 14, 22 people had been taken into custody.
The SIT was formed to re-investigate the cases that had led to 127 casualties in Kanpur, one of the worst-hit cities of the 1984 riots.
Crucial evidence, including blood samples, had been taken about a year ago from a locked house in the city’s Govind Nagar area, which was attacked by a mob during the riots that followed Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
The SIT had entered the house with a forensic team, the DIG said.
The witnesses had narrated the horrific episode and disclosed the identities of those allegedly involved in the killing, he said.
