Anti-Sikh riots: Key CBI witness against Sajjan dies

In a setback to the prosecution CBI, a key witness in an anti-Sikh riot case against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar died a day before trial in the case was to resume on Tuesday.

In a setback to the prosecution CBI, a key witness in an anti-Sikh riot case against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar died a day before trial in the case was to resume on Tuesday.

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Bhagwani Bai, 70, was a witness in the case in which Kumar and four others are accused of killing six persons in Delhi's Sultanpuri area.

The trial in the case had been on hold since September 2010 after its records had been shifted to the Delhi high court that was hearing an appeal filed by the accused against framing of charges of murder, rioting and spreading enmity between two communities.

But the high court had on July 16 dismissed the petitions and ordered resumption of trial.

"Bhagwani Bai had stated in her statement before the CBI and the judicial magistrate, under Section 164 of the CrPC, that she saw Sajjan Kumar leading the mob on November 1, 1984, and instigating the mob to kill Sikhs. Her two sons, Bhawani Bhai Hoshiar Singh and Mohun Singh, were killed in the riots," the lawyer for kin of the victims, HS Phoolka, said.