Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar died at the age of 80 on Thursday while serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail in connection with cases related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. According to sources cited by news agency ANI, Kumar was brought dead to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.
Kumar was serving a life term after being convicted in two cases linked to the 1984 riots.
In one of the cases, Kumar was convicted for the killing of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment’s Palam Colony, following which a gurdwara was also set ablaze. The Delhi High Court had sentenced him to life imprisonment on December 17, 2018.
In another case, Kumar was convicted in February 2025 for the killings of two Sikhs, Sardar Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh, in Saraswati Vihar on November 1, 1984. According to the case, the two men were attacked with iron rods and sticks by a mob before being burnt alive. Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment on February 25, 2025.
However, in September 2023, a Rouse Avenue court acquitted Kumar in a case concerning the killing of three Sikhs in Delhi’s Sultanpuri during the riots. CBI witness Cham Kaur had alleged that Kumar was inciting the mob during the violence.
