Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, convicted in anti-Sikh riots case, passes away

NEW DELHI: Congress leader and former MP Sajjan Kumar (80) passed away on Thursday. He was serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail in the anti-Sikh riots case. Sajjan Kumar was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital after his health deteriorated in jail.

Kumar was found guilty of involvement in the 1984 riots in the Palam Colony area that led to the deaths of five people following the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The Delhi High Court sentenced Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment on December 17, 2018. His appeal is pending in the Supreme Court. In January, a Delhi court had acquitted him in two cases related to inciting violence in Janakpuri and Vikaspuri areas of Delhi during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Sajjan Kumar entered electoral politics in 1977 as a Delhi councillor. He later became the general secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). He was a close aide of Sanjay Gandhi. In 1980, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Outer Delhi constituency on a Congress ticket. He was re-elected from the same constituency in 1991. In 2004, he won the Outer Delhi seat with a record majority of over 8.5 lakh votes.