84' riots: Court refuses bail to co-accused

A Delhi court on Thursday refused to grant bail to a co-accused of former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, terming the charges relating to murder and arson against him as "direct and serious" in nature.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma dismissed the plea of accused Girdhari Lal to be released on bail as "devoid of merit".

Girdhari Lal was arrested by CBI and produced before the court on February 23 following a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him.

"The allegations levelled against the accused are direct and serious in nature. I have gone through the statement of complainant Jagdish Kaur. Taking into consideration the gravity of the offence and heinousness of the offence, the accused is not entitled to bail," the court said.

The court had on February 17 issued the NBW against Lal as he failed to appear before it on summons.
Lal, along with former outer Delhi MP Kumar and Balwan Khokhar, Mahender Yadav, Maha Singh, Capt Bhagmal, Santosh Rani, Krishna Khokhar were named as accused in the murder of five persons in Delhi Cantt during the 1984 riots.

The CBI had filed two chargesheets on January 13 in the riots cases registered on the recommendation of Justice G T Nanavati Commission which had inquired into the sequence of events leading to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in the aftermath of the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31.