38 years after 1984 Kanpur anti-Sikh riots, SIT arrests 4 accused

KANPUR: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted on Supreme Court orders has arrested four people in connection with the 1984 anti- Sikh riots in Kanpur after three years of investigation.

Deputy inspector general, SIT, Balendu Bhushan Singh confirmed the arrests and said all the accused have been sent to jail.

Vijay Narayan Singh, 65, Yogendra Singh, 65, Saifullah, 64 and Abdul Rahman, 65, all residents of Ghatampur, were identified in the course of the investigation.

Singh said all of them had come in a truck with others and set a house on fire in Kanpur’s Nirala Nagar on November 1,1984.

Three people were burnt alive while one person was thrown off the roof of the house. One Virendra Singh had lodged an FIR with the Kidwai Nagar police in Kanpur about the incident, he said.

These people were identified by the eyewitnesses whom the

The anti-Sikh riots had broken out in the aftermath of assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.. A total of 127 people were killed in Kanpur.

The SIT was formed in February 2019 on Supreme Court orders. Some Sikh organisations had approached the court, which ordered an SIT to investigate the cases. The SIT investigated 20 FIRs of heinous crimes and obtained the records from the ministry of home affairs and commissions formed to investigate the riots.

SIT approached in four states.

The anti-Sikh riots had broken out in the aftermath of assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.

A total of 127 people were killed in Kanpur.

The SIT was formed in February 2019 on Supreme Court orders.

Some Sikh organisations had approached the court, which ordered an SIT to investigate the cases. The SIT was initially set up six months but it was given several extensions.

The SIT investigated 20 FIRs of heinous crimes and obtained the records from the ministry of home affairs and commissions formed to investigate the riots.

On the basis of FIRs, the SIT approached the witnesses and complainants who have settled in Delhi, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan after the riots and they helped with identification of 74 people who were being made accused.

Sardar Mokam Singh, former head of Gurudwara Banno Sahib in Kanpur, said the struggle of more than three decades had yielded results.

“We welcome these arrests; this is the victory of the constitution. The Sikhs do not want any compensation but punishment to the accused,” he said.