Sikh inmates to be kept away from Sajjan Kumar's ward in Delhi's Mandoli jail

Sikh inmates will be kept away from former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar's ward in the Mandoli Jail complex here as a precautionary measure, sources said.

Kumar, sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, was brought to the Mandoli jail after he surrendered before the Karkardooma court here on Monday.

The former Congress leader, who was brought to the jail by the police following his medical examination at a Delhi government hospital, would be lodged in prison number 14, the sources said.

They added that Kumar's medical examination by a jail doctor was also carried out. He was brought to the jail complex in a separate prison bus with two escort vehicles, following the court's directions.

The sources said it was yet to be decided which ward the former Congress leader will be housed in but security had been increased in jail number 14 and the personnel asked to ensure that the two-three Sikh prisoners lodged in the jail were kept away from Kumar as a precautionary measure.

Kumar, 73, surrendered before Metropolitan Magistrate Aditi Garg, who directed that he be lodged in the Mandoli jail in northeast Delhi. The Delhi High Court had set a deadline of December 31 for the former Congress leader to surrender and on December 21, declined his plea to extend the time by a month.

The high court had, on December 17, convicted Kumar and sentenced him to life imprisonment for the "remainder of his natural life". Subsequently, Kumar resigned from the Congress party.

The case in which he was convicted relates to the killing of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar Part-I area in the Palam Colony of southwest Delhi on November 1-2, 1984 and the burning down of a Gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.

The riots broke out following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards.