1984 Anti-Sikh riots: Sajjan Kumar taken to Delhi's Mandoli jail; former Congress leader had surrendered in Karkadooma Court

New Delhi: Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in 1984 anti-Sikh riots, was brought to Mandoli jail after he surrendered before the Karkardooma court on Monday. Sources said he will be lodged in jail number 14. He was brought by the police to the jail following a medical examination at a Delhi government hospital.

They added his medical examination by a jail doctor is currently underway. He was brought to the prison in a separate prison bus with two escorting vehicles, following the court’s directions. Kumar, 73, surrendered before Metropolitan Magistrate Aditi Garg who directed that he be lodged in Mandoli jail in northeast Delhi. The Delhi High Court had set a deadline of 31 December for him to surrender and on 21 December declined his plea to extend the time by a month.

The High Court on 17 December convicted and sentenced Kumar to life imprisonment for the “remainder of his natural life”. After his conviction, Kumar resigned from the Congress party. The case in which Kumar was convicted and sentenced relates to the killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar Part-I area in Palam Colony of southwest Delhi on 1-2 November, 1984 and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part-II. The riots happened after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October, 1984, by her two Sikh bodyguards.