NEW DELHI: A witness in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots on Monday alleged before a trial court, trying senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and others, that Delhi Police virtually helped the rioters during the carnage.
''I was watching from the window that police vans came and on seeing them Sikhs rushed out hoping they would help. Thereafter, the police vans went away and then after some time, mobs came and burnt those very houses from where Sikhs had come out,'' Joginder Singh told additional sessions judge Sunita Gupta.
Deposing as the seventh witness, Singh identified Kumar's co-accused ex-MLA Mahender Yadav, ex-councillor and Kumar's nephews Balwant Khokar and Kishan Khokar and captain Bhagmal as those involved in the riots that had followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
The 53-year-old witness, whose father-in-law was also killed in the riots, said the mob was led by Khokar brothers and Yadav. He also narrated how the houses were burnt by mobs and how Sikhs and wing commander Punnu, who once chased away the accused, were killed during the riots. Singh's deposition was completed on Monday. He is likely to be cross-examined by the defence counsel on November 19, the next date of hearing.
Read more: 1984 witness says cops helped rioters - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...rioters/articleshow/6933083.cms#ixzz15PXahm5h
''I was watching from the window that police vans came and on seeing them Sikhs rushed out hoping they would help. Thereafter, the police vans went away and then after some time, mobs came and burnt those very houses from where Sikhs had come out,'' Joginder Singh told additional sessions judge Sunita Gupta.
Deposing as the seventh witness, Singh identified Kumar's co-accused ex-MLA Mahender Yadav, ex-councillor and Kumar's nephews Balwant Khokar and Kishan Khokar and captain Bhagmal as those involved in the riots that had followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
The 53-year-old witness, whose father-in-law was also killed in the riots, said the mob was led by Khokar brothers and Yadav. He also narrated how the houses were burnt by mobs and how Sikhs and wing commander Punnu, who once chased away the accused, were killed during the riots. Singh's deposition was completed on Monday. He is likely to be cross-examined by the defence counsel on November 19, the next date of hearing.
Read more: 1984 witness says cops helped rioters - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...rioters/articleshow/6933083.cms#ixzz15PXahm5h
