Sajjan Kumar moves HC, seeks more time to surrender
The plea is likely to come up for hearing on Friday.
New Delhi: Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar on Thursday approached the Delhi high court, seeking time till January 30 to surrender after being recently sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
Seventy-three-year-old Kumar, who was directed by the high court on Monday to surrender before the authorities by December 31, sought more time saying he has to settle family affairs. The plea is likely to come up for hearing on Friday.
Advocate Anil Sharma, representing Kumar, said he needed some more time to file the appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the high court’s verdict. He also said that Kumar has to settle his family matters relating to children and property.
The application said Kumar has been “under shock and surprise” since he was convicted and he believes that he is innocent.
The case relates to the killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in Palam Colony in South West Delhi in November 1984 and the burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar part-II during that period.
The riots had broken out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her two Sikh bodyguards.
In another case related to a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, Kumar appeared before a city court on Thursday amid tight security, three days after he was convicted in another riot case by the high court.