Ex-Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, convicted in anti-Sikh riots case, dies

New Delhi: Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who was serving a life sentence in Delhi's Tihar Jail in connection with a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, died on Thursday after his health deteriorated. He was 80.

Kumar was taken to Safdarjung Hospital after his condition worsened. Doctors at the hospital declared him brought dead.

The Delhi High Court sentenced Kumar to life imprisonment on December 17, 2018, after finding him guilty in connection with the deaths of five people during rioting in the Palam Colony area of Delhi on November 1 and 2, 1984.

The violence followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.

Kumar had challenged the conviction and sentence before the Supreme Court, where his appeal was pending.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Outer Delhi as a member of the Indian National Congress. Following his conviction and life sentence, he resigned from the party’s primary membership.

For over three decades, Kumar faced multiple criminal cases relating to the violence, with outcomes that swung between acquittals and convictions across different courts.

In the Delhi's Raj Nagar area case, relating to the killing of five members of a family and the torching of a gurudwara, the Delhi High Court on December 17, 2018, overturned a trial court's earlier acquittal and convicted Kumar, sentencing him to life imprisonment. Kumar surrendered and has been in jail since December 2018.

In the Saraswati Vihar murder case, concerning the killing of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on November 1, 1984, a trial court had earlier acquitted Kumar, but on February 25, 2025, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja awarded him a second life imprisonment term, sparing him the death penalty in view of his old age, ailments and conduct while serving his previous life sentence.

In the case relating to violence in the Janakpuri and Vikaspuri areas, a Rouse Avenue Court acquitted Kumar on January 22 of charges of inciting the killing of Sohan Singh and his son-in-law Avtar Singh, and the burning of Gurcharan Singh. On May 26, the Delhi High Court issued notice on the appeal against the acquittal of Former MP Sajjan Kumar in the 1984 Anti Sikh riots case.