‘CBI dropped witnesses who did not mention Sajjan Kumar’s name’

Continuing the defence arguments in the 1984 Sikh riots case, the advocate for the accused, Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, told the court that the CBI had "deliberately dropped" witnesses who did not name Sajjan Kumar in their testimony.

Pointing out that the CBI had cited 17 names as witnesses in the case against Kumar, senior advocate I U Khan told the court of Additional Sessions Judge J R Aryan that 12 of the 17 witnesses had said they had not seen Sajjan Kumar at the scene of the riots.

Only three of the "eyewitnesses" examined by the CBI had named Sajjan Kumar, and they were not "reliable witnesses", Khan said.

" Majority of the witnesses, including the family members of the three key witnesses said they did not recall seeing Sajjan Kumar with the mob," Khan said.

Khan also said the CBI has failed to produce in court those persons mentioned as "material witnesses" in its chargesheet.

"Two investigating officers in the case have said they could not find some of the material witnesses. How could the prosecution not find a police or military officer who was alive and drawing a pension?" said Khan while pointing out that Major Yadav, who was in charge of the Delhi Cantonment area at the relevant time, was found by the defence and produced as a defence witness.

Sajjan Kumar's lawyer has also said the CBI had dropped witnesses who "fell into two categories — those who had not mentioned Kumar at all and those who specifically denied seeing him at the scene".

Naming witnesses such as Harbhajan Kaur, and Daljeet Kaur, wives of two of the men killed during the riots, the lawyer also said the investigation showed the "malafide intent" of the agency, since they did not take the testimony of the two, who were relatives and neighbours of the key eyewitness Jagdish .

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