NEW DELHI: Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who was serving life sentences in Tihar Jail in two anti-Sikh riots cases, died Thursday. Kumar’s parole hearing was listed in SC on Thursday.Delhi Prisons said Kumar was referred to Safdarjung Hospital for general OPD consultations and age-related ailments, including hypertension, cataract, BPH and Parkinson’s disease. He had been undergoing treatment for these conditions at the same hospital. Around 1.35 pm, Delhi Armed Police personnel reported that Kumar had died at 12.20 pm.“The cause of death will be ascertained in due course,” the statement read. He had been lodged at Tihar since 2018. Safdarjung Hospital, in a statement, said Kumar was brought to the hospital around 11am with altered sensorium. He was immediately admitted and resuscitation measures were initiated.Despite all necessary medical and life-support measures, he could not be revived and was declared dead at 12.30 pm.The hospital said: “He was a known case of hypertension and Parkinson’s disease and had a history of multiple hospital admissions in the past”.There are contradictions in the records regarding Kumar’s age and time of death. Tihar officials stated that he was 80 years old and died at 12.20 pm, while Safdarjung Hospital records put his age at 84 and the time of death at 12.30 pm.Delhi HC sentenced Kumar to life imprisonment in 2018, in a case related to the killing of five Sikhs and the burning of a gurdwara during the anti-Sikh riots that broke out following the assassination of then PM Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984.Kumar was also sentenced to life imprisonment in 2025 in another case relating to the killing of two Sikh men during the riots.Kumar was also acquitted in 5 other cases relating to the killing of seven Sikhs in Sultanpuri, with two of these cases currently under appeal.
