SC issues notice to CBI on Sajjan Kumar’s plea against conviction in anti-Sikh riot case

Sajjan Kumar surrendered in a local court in Delhi on December 31 to serve a life sentence for killing five people of the same family in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the CBI on former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s appeal against his conviction in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar outside the Patiala House Court in New Delhi. Kumar ahead of his surrender on Decemer 31, 2018 after he was awarded life sentence by Delhi High Court in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.(PTI)

Kumar surrendered in a local court in Delhi on December 31 to serve a life sentence for killing five people of the same family in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots after the Delhi high court rejected his plea for an extension of time till January 30 to surrender to start his sentence. The riots broke out after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her two Sikh bodyguards

The 73-year-old Sajjan Kumar had approached the Supreme Court on December 22 challenging the life imprisonment after the Delhi High Court rejected his plea seeking an extension of time till January 30 to surrender for serving his punishment.

The high court overturned a 2013 order of a lower court that acquitted him in the case.

He was convicted and sentenced to life term for the “remainder of his natural life” after he was found guilty in a case pertaining to the killing of five Sikhs in southwest Delhi’s Raj Nagar on November 1-2, 1984, and the burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.