Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, 80, who was convicted in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, died on Thursday (August 20) at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, news agency PTI reported citing hospital sources.The hospital has not yet disclosed the cause of his death.
Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi high court in December 2018 for his role in a case involving the killing of five Sikhs and the burning of a gurdwara during the 1984 riots. He was lodged in Tihar Jail.
In February 2025, a Delhi court also sentenced Kumar to life imprisonment in a separate case concerning the killing of two Sikh men during the riots.
A three-time Lok Sabha MP, Kumar represented the Outer Delhi constituency and was a prominent Congress leader. He resigned from the party following his conviction by the Delhi high court in 2018.
According to news agency ANI, Kumar was brought to the hospital in an unresponsive condition. Safdarjung Hospital authorities have yet to issue a statement on his death.