1984 riots case: HC seeks Sajjan’s reply on CD, letter ‘confession’

NEWDELHI: THE Delhi high court on Thursday sought a reply from Congress leader Sajjan Kumar on a letter in which it is alleged that the accused in the 1984 anti-sikh riots case have confessed to being present at the spot where the violence took place. A bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and justice Anu Malhotra also directed the CBI to file its stand on the letter, purportedly written by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) seeking action against the accused for their alleged involvement in the massacre.

Kumar’s counsel Anil Sharma said a letter and CDS sent by DSGMC were tagged with the file of one of the convicts in a case relating to the murder of five members of a family in Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment on November 1, 1984, after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and two others were held guilty in the case. Kumar was acquitted in the case by the trial court. The letter and the CDS were placed before the bench during the hearing of the CBI’S appeal against Kumar’s acquittal in the murder of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar area.

It, however, separated the DSGMC letter and CDS and turned it into a PIL on which it issued notice to the CBI and the Congress leader and sought their responses before the next date of hearing, April 12.

Kumar’s lawyer opposed the notice and the complaint and said they should be given the same. He also questioned its maintainability. The bench, however, said that all the parties should reply to it and the court will accordingly decide at an appropriate stage, whether the letter and CDS would be treated as an evidence in the appeals pending consideration before it.