Lawyers for Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots have traded charges about the CBI making Mr. Kumar an accused in the Raj Nagar rioting case in which five Sikhs were murdered. This past week a Sessions court here had acquitted Mr. Kumar of all charges.
Mr. Kumar’s counsel, Anil Kumar Sharma, claimed that the CBI had falsely implicated him in the case and that the court had done justice to Mr. Kumar. Mr. Sharma also claimed that the CBI did not engage a lawyer from its own panel or from Delhi and that a team of top lawyers from Punjab were engaged for the case.
Mr. Sharma also claimed that the main witness, Jagdish Kaur, had not named Sajjan Kumar in her police complaint in 1985 or her affidavit before the Ranganath Mishra Commission in the same year or before the Delhi Police Riots Cell in 1992. Mr. Sharma said Jagdish Kaur had first named Sajjan Kumar in her affidavit before the Nanavati Commission in 2000.
The defence counsel also wondered why the CBI dropped some crucial witnesses during trial like the wives of two of the deceased, Narenderpal Singh and Raghuvinder Singh; Sampuran Kaur, mother of Nirpreet Kaur; and Gurdip Singh, son of Jagdish Kaur.
“It is clear that Jagdish Kaur, Jagsher Singh and Nirpreet Kaur were used to implicate Sajjan Kumar in this case by CBI. The judgment of the court has unearthed the truth. The statements of these witnesses were unbelievable having no iota of truth, thus the court acquitted Sajjan Kumar,” Mr. Sharma said.
Meanwhile, senior advocate H. S. Phoolka, counsel for the riot victims, alleged that a large number of victims named Sajjan Kumar in 1984 itself for his involvement in the killings of Sikhs.
Mr. Phoolka alleged that a delegation of Opposition leaders met the Prime Minister on November 6, 1984, and allegedly mentioned about the involvement of Sajjan Kumar. Mr. Phoolka alleged that this appeared in many newspapers on November 7, 1984.
He also claimed that a retired diplomat and a former Governor had informed Nanavati Commission that while they were holding enquiries as part of Justice Sikri’s Citizens Commission in December 1984, a number of victims allegedly named Sajjan Kumar for his involvement in the killings in 1984. Mr. Phoolka also alleged that 12 affidavits were filed against Sajjan Kumar from July to September 1985 before the Mishra Commission.
He also alleged that a charge sheet was prepared by the Delhi Police in April 1992 but this was never filed in court and that it is now missing.
