Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar dies while serving life sentence for 1984 anti-Sikh riots

Sajjan Kumar, a former Congress Member of Parliament convicted for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, died on August 20, 2026, at the age of 80. He was serving concurrent life sentences at Tihar Jail and was declared brought dead at Safdarjung Hospital after being taken there following complaints of uneasiness.

Kumar was a three-time Lok Sabha member from Outer Delhi. He began his career as a municipal councillor in 1977. His later political life remained overshadowed by the riots that followed the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.

In December 2018 the Delhi High Court convicted him of abetting the murder of five Sikhs and sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life. He resigned from the Congress primary membership the next day.

A further conviction followed in 2025 for the murders of Jaswant Singh and his son on November 1, 1984. That case had been reinvestigated by a Special Investigation Team set up in 2015.

Kumar had sought three weeks' parole to care for his ailing wife. The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear the application on the day of his death.

Survivors of the riots expressed mixed reactions. Some said a natural death in custody left justice incomplete. More than 2,700 Sikhs were killed in Delhi and parts of north India in the days after the assassination.

Kumar remained the only high-profile Congress leader to receive a final conviction and lengthy sentence in connection with the violence.