A Muslim residing in Trilokpuri, the area that saw the worst carnage in the ‘84 riots, helped 25 Sikh men escape the mobs

He made the Sikh men wear burqas. Then, with the help of other Muslims in the neighbourhood, he escorted them out of Block 32 and out of Trilokpuri. Meanwhile, the city burned, and angry mobs raged through the blocks, pulling out Sikhs from their homes and killing them.

Mohd Ali Zaidi lived in Block 32 in the East Delhi locality, where the worst carnage happened. Half of the houses in that block belonged to Sikhs and mobs arrived there first, voters’ list in hand. They knew exactly where to find the Sikhs.

When the state media - Doordarshan and All India Radio - announced that Indira Gandhi had been shot dead by her two Sikh bodyguards, chaos descended upon the city, fed by rumours that Sikhs were celebrating the murder by distributing sweets because the then Prime Minister had ordered the Army inside the Golden Temple.

Angry men wielding swords and knives killed more than 3,000 Sikhs in the three days of the worst carnage the city has ever experienced.

“They killed more than 300 Sikhs in Block 32 alone,” Zaidi recalled. “I had to help, otherwise the guilt would have been too much to bear.”

Zaidi owned five plots in the block at the time. At first he sneaked around 25 Sikh men from his neighbourhood into his house; he then called a barber, around 2.30 am.

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