New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS)
A city court Monday issued notice to former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar and others in two cases relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, taking cognisance of two chargesheets filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against them.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar issued notices to Sajjan Kumar and others, summoning them Feb 17.
Prima facie the court is satisfied that the case is made out against Sajjan Kumar and others, the court said.
It, however, turned down the pleas of victims' counsel H.S. Phulka to issue non-bailable warrants against the accused and said: "By issuing notices, my aim is to seek their presence. I do not want to take any cohesive actions.
"In the past so many years, no complaint was received from any of the witnesses in the case so it can't be apprehended that the accused might influence the witnesses," the court said.
On Jan 13, the CBI had filed two chargesheets in two riot cases against Sajjan Kumar and others.
The first charge sheet relates to the killing of five people in the Delhi Cantonment area, and the second to the death of many in riots in Sultanpuri. The investigating agency charged Sajjan Kumar and others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 302 (murder), 153-A (rioting) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
Sajjan Kumar is among those accused of instigating mobs that killed over 3,000 Sikhs across Delhi in the days following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi in October 1984.