Sajjan surrenders; sent to Mandoli jail

​New Delhi: Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who has been awarded a life sentence by the Delhi High Court in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, surrendered before the Karkardooma Court on Monday. The court directed that Kumar is sent to Mandoli jail in northeast Delhi.

On December 17, the Delhi High Court had overturned the acquittal granted to Kumar by a trial court and awarded him a life sentence and a fine of Rs 5 lakh in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. Earlier, two convicts in the case- Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar also surrendered at Karkardooma Court.

The case pertains to the killing of five members of a Sikh family in Delhi Cantonment during 1984 anti-Sikh riots in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. "In the summer of 1947, during partition, several people were massacred. 37 years later Delhi was the witness of a similar tragedy. The accused enjoyed political patronage and escaped trial," the court had said while awarding life sentence to Kumar. Over 2700 Sikhs were murdered in Delhi in what the court called a "carnage of unbelievable proportions".

Meanwhile, the 73-year-old former Congress leader has already approached the Supreme Court filing an appeal against the High Court verdict. He had also sought an additional 30 days to surrender to sort out family matters.