New Delhi, February 17
Senior Congress leader and key 1984 anti-Sikh riot accused Sajjan Kumar could be arrested anytime now. A Delhi court today issued non-bailable warrants against the former MP and six co-accused after they failed to appear in court despite being summoned during an earlier hearing.
The court asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) - which had filed the chargesheet against Kumar and others - to arrest them and produce them.
Sajjan Kumar, who was expecting reprieve from the Delhi High Court, remained unavailable for comment.
Taking a serious view of the accused’s non-appearance, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma said Kumar and others were duty-bound to appear in the court but failed to do so. “The court
in this case is left with no other alternative but to issue NBW,” he said in a packed courtroom at the Karkardooma Court Complex here. The court also dismissed the exemption application filed by Sajjan Kumar and others. The decision to issue NBWs came after the Delhi High Court adjourned hearing on Kumar’s plea for anticipatory bail till February 18 this afternoon. However, Justice SL Bayana of the high court granted stay on the arrest of two other accused - Brahmanand and Peru.
Kumar’s counsel IU Khan had today filed an application before the local court for dispensing his personal attendance, seeking permission to appear through his lawyer. He had also sought two days on the ground that Kumar’s bail application was pending to be heard on Thursday in the high court and “it is likely that bail would be issued to him”. The court adismissed Khan’s plea.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the law should take its own course.
