1984 Riots: Delhi police did not record witnesses' statement correctly, CBI to court

The CBI today told a city court that Delhi Police did not correctly record the statement of the witnesses in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case allegedly involving Congress leader Sajjan Kumar.
The CBI also claimed that during its investigation, it found that the statements of key prosecution witness Sheela Kaur, recorded by police officials in 1985, were forged.
The agency made the statement during the trial of a riot case in Sultanpuri area of west Delhi in which Kumar along with two others are facing prosecution.
The proceedings in the case, which is being video recorded, was held before District Judge Poonam A Bamba.

Senior advocate H S Phoolka, appearing for the victims, said the agency made the statement when Kumar's lawyer, during the cross-examination of Kaur, wanted to confront her with her statement recorded by the police under section 161 of CrPC during the investigation of the case in the 1985.
"Our investigation has found that police did not record the statement of the witnesses correctly where it involved Kumar, to help him. The statements were forged by the police itself and not recorded by the witness," said CBI.

During the proceedings, Kumar's advocate Anil Kumar Sharma said that Kaur had not named Kumar, nor had she mentioned about any meeting and the politician's name appeared for the first time in 2008 on CBI's behest.

During her cross examination, Kaur told the court that she had always named Kumar in the case, Phoolka said, adding that she reiterated that she had seen and heard the Congress leader instigate a mob in the national capital's Sultanpuri area in 1984.
The court posted the matter for further proceedings on March 6 when it is likely to resume the recording of the statement of the witness. She had on January 15 told a court here that she received various phone calls threatening that her children would be killed if she named Kumar in the case. Kaur's husband, brother-in-law and father-in-law were killed in the 1984 riots.

The case was transferred from Karkardooma court to Patiala House court here by the Delhi High Court, which had directed the district judge to video record the proceedings at the cost of the accused.
Kumar and two other accused, Brahmanand Gupta and Ved Prakash, had said that they were ready to bear the expenses of the videography of proceedings. The three accused are facing trial on charges of murder and rioting in the case pertaining to killing of Surjit Singh in Sultanpuri.
The proceedings in the case were earlier stayed after the victim and complainant Joginder Singh approached the high court seeking transfer of the case while alleging that evidence was not being properly recorded.