Thursday, October 21, 2010

Witness identifies Sajjan Kumar in 1984 Sikh riots case

A witness in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case on Tuesday identified former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar as one of the leaders who provoked the killing of innocent Sikhs during the carnage after the assassination of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. Jagsher Singh told a city court he remembered Kumar asking the mob to kill Sikhs.

"Sajjan Kumar, MP, came in an Ambassador car and asked some people (around 30 to 40) if they had done the work that had been assigned to them. He then said they had not done their work properly. One person told him that they were helpless as the thekedars (contractors) were being saved by Hindus. Thereupon, Kumar said Hindus offering shelter to Sikhs should be killed and their houses burnt," Singh said.

Singh had lost three of his elder brothers in the riots. He is a witness in the case filed by his cousin Jagdish Kaur, whose husband and son were also killed by the mob. Singh said following Kumar's order, the mob looted his Raj Nagar home and set it on fire. "I knew him (Kumar) because our area was backward and there was some sewage problem. He had come to listen to our grievances," Singh added.

with thanks : indiatoday : link in headline above for detailed news.

SikhsIndia

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