Anti-Sikh riots: Witness identifies Sajjan Kumar

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Anti-Sikh riots: Witness identifies Sajjan Kumar


New Delhi: A key witness, who lost her five family members in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots here on Saturday identified in a court senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar as a person who had instigated the mob during the carnage.

Jagdish Kaur, the witness who was cross-examined today by the defence counsel before the court of Additional Sessions Judge Sunita Gupta, also identified Sajjan's nephew Balwant Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal as accomplices.

The defence counsel, who started cross-examining Kaur after recording of her statements was completed, pointed out several inconsistencies in the riot victim's testimonies before various authorities from time to time.

However, Kaur refuted the allegation of being inconsistent, saying she had made the same statements before all authorities, be it Nanavati Commission, CBI or the magistrate in Punjab.

"They (authorities) said that they would take only those statements on record which are found relevant," she said.

The cross-examination of the witness will continue on Monday.

Kaur had yesterday accused the police of taking sides with rioters in 1984 and turning a blind eye to the riots.

She lost five family members, including her husband, in the riots that had followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.

The court had on May 28 framed charges of murder and spreading enmity between two communities against Kumar in the riots case, saying there are sufficient grounds for presuming that the violence was due to a "well-planned conspiracy" in Delhi Cantonment area.

CBI had filed two chargesheets against Kumar and others on January 13 in the riots cases registered in 2005 on the recommendation of Justice G T Nanavati Commission which inquired into the sequence of events leading to the riots.

The court began recording of statements of prosecution witnesses in the Delhi Cantonment area case.

In a separate case, the same court had decided to frame charges against the leader and others on July 5 in connection with the killing of six persons at Sultanpuri area in north-west Delhi.

Besides the Congress leader, CBI is seeking prosecution Brahmanand Gupta, Peru, Khushal Singh and Ved Prakash.
 
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