E-Paper
Four more arrests in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case
SIT Arrests made in four cases after raids conducted by SIT teams. So far, the team has arrested 21 people of the total 73 listed accused in 11 cases, says SIT DIG
KANPUR The Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to investigate heinous crimes committed during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, arrested four more people, including a three-time corporator, for allegedly killing 13 people in Dabauli and Govind Nagar areas of the city.
One of the accused is 85 years old and the rest are between 70-75 years.
SIT DIG Balendu Bhushan Singh said the arrests were made in four cases after raids conducted by the SIT teams. So far, the team had arrested 21 people of the total 73 listed accused in 11 cases.
Rajan Lal Pandey, 85, Deepak Dammulal, 70, and Dhirendra Tiwari, 71, were arrested for killing six people in three cases.
Kailash Pal, the then Congress corporator for three terms, was arrested for the Dabauli killings in which Vishakh Singh, his wife Simran Kaur, daughter Gurbachan Kaur and four sons were brutally murdered.
Pal and two other corporators had brought the mob to Singh’s house where they first looted cash and valuables and then murdered seven people of a family. Mahendra Singh and Avtar Singh, two of the surviving sons of Vishakh Singh, who had migrated from Kanpur, had given their statements as eyewitnesses and identified Pal as the one who was leading the mob.
The SIT teams that made the arrests were led by Surya Pratap Singh, Sunil Kanaujia, Jitendra Kumar Singh, Sanjay Maurya. The teams would get cash reward of ₹10,000, said the SIT DIG.
The 1984 anti-Sikh riots broke out after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards. Thousands of Sikhs were killed in the riots in which Delhi was the worst hit city. Kanpur was the second worst-affected city after Delhi during these riots with 127 casualties. The Uttar Pradesh government formed the SIT in May 2019 on Supreme Court’s orders.
