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Ex-Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, jailed in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, dies at 80
A three-time Lok Sabha MP, Sajjan Kumar represented the Outer Delhi constituency and was a prominent Congress leader.
Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, 80, who was convicted in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, died on Thursday (August 20) at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, news agency PTI reported citing hospital sources.
The hospital has not yet disclosed the cause of his death.
Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi high court in December 2018 for his role in a case involving the killing of five Sikhs and the burning of a gurdwara during the 1984 riots. He was lodged in Tihar Jail.
In February 2025, a Delhi court also sentenced Kumar to life imprisonment in a separate case concerning the killing of two Sikh men during the riots.
A three-time Lok Sabha MP, Kumar represented the Outer Delhi constituency and was a prominent Congress leader. He resigned from the party following his conviction by the Delhi high court in 2018.
According to news agency ANI, Kumar was brought to the hospital in an unresponsive condition. Safdarjung Hospital authorities have yet to issue a statement on his death.
For more than three decades, Kumar faced multiple criminal cases linked to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, with verdicts varying from acquittals to convictions across different courts.
Earlier this year, in January, a Delhi court acquitted Kumar of charges of leading a mob and inciting violence during the riots in the Capital’s Janakpuri area. The court cited insufficient evidence and noted that witnesses had named Kumar as an accused only after a gap of more than three decades.
During his imprisonment, Kumar repeatedly sought bail and relief on medical grounds.
Sajjan Kumar remained one of the most prominent former public representatives to face criminal proceedings over the violence that followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984.
