A Delhi court has charged former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar with rioting, murder, dacoity etc, under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), in connection with the murder of two Sikhs in Raj Nagar during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.
The court said that Sajjan prima facie was not only "a participant of the mob but also led it" and listed the matter for 16 December for the official framing of charges.
The case, which pertains to the murder of Sardar Jaswant Singh and Sardar Tarun Deep Singh, was registered at the Saraswati Vihar Police Station in Delhi.
The family members of the deceased had alleged that Kumar had "instigated and abetted the unruly mob", which later burnt the two men alive on 1 November 1984. The family members also alleged that the mob had set their house on fire.
Kumar is currently lodged in a city jail after being convicted in another murder case related to the riots.
Additional sessions judge MK Nagpal had passed the order on Friday, 3 December, which was later made available on Monday, 6 December.
The court charged Kumar with murder, rioting, unlawful assembly, arson, attempt to culpable homicide, dacoity, voluntarily causing hurt, and causing mischief and robbery, but dropped the charges of attempt to murder.
What Did the Court Order Say?
"In prima facie opinion of the court, the oral and documentary evidence collected by the IO(s) during the course of investigation of the case is sufficient to make this court to form a prima facie opinion that an unlawful assembly or mob of several thousand persons armed with deadly weapons like danda and iron rods etc. was there on the above said date, time and place and the common object of such mob or unlawful assembly was to resort to large scale looting, arson or destruction of property of Sikhs to avenge the killing of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards and the above incident of attack on the house of complainant took place at the hand of said mob only and in the said attack not only the house and other household articles of the complainant were looted and destroyed, by fire or otherwise, but also the killing of her husband and son took place and even the complainant and the other victims suffered injuries at the hands of participants of such mob," the court order said.
"Further, there is also sufficient material on record for this court to form a prima facie opinion that the accused was not only a participant of the said mob but also leading it", it added.
(With inputs from ANI.)
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