Sajjan Kumar acquitted

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 6. A Delhi court today acquitted the former Congress (I) MP from Outer Delhi, Mr. Sajjan Kumar, in one of 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases.

The riot had erupted in the capital following the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. With this, Mr. Kumar has been acquitted in two out of three anti-Sikh riot cases. In the third, he is facing trial before the Additional Sessions Judge, Ms. Sharada Aggrawal, at the Patiala House courts.

The other person acquitted in the case is Mr. Ishwar Singh, former Councillor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Last year, Mr. Singh was discharged in the other case.

The prosecution's case fell as all six material witnesses turned hostile. In his judgment, the Additional Sessions Judge, Mr. R.C. Yaduvanshi, said the prosecution had failed to make out a case for conviction of the accused. The name of Mr. Sajjan Kumar and Mr. Ishwar Singh did not figure in thee FIR lodged by the Mangolpuri police on a complaint by one Mr. Tejwant Singh Malhotra in November 6, 1984. In the FIR, he alleged that Mr. Dharampal Shaukin, in whose house the complainant was a tenant, led a crowd into his house and beat him up, resulting in Shaukin's death in 1987.

In the affidavit filed before the Jain & Banerjee Commission in 1992 as well, the complainant did not name Mr. Sajjan Kumar or Mr. Ishwar Singh.

However in June 1992, the Mongolpuri police recorded a supplementary statement of the complainant where for the first time he named Mr. Sajjan Kumar and Mr. Ishwar Singh as accused.

When the police filed the chargesheet in 1994, it urged the Metropolitan Magistrate, Mr. Vinod Kumar, to close the case against Mr. Kumar and Mr. Singh, as their names 6did not figure in the affidavit.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : Army Chief in Myanmar
Next     : Hijack handling inept: CWC