Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, convicted of abetting five killings during the 1984 Sikh carnage, will have to turn himself in by December 31 after the Delhi High Court today rejected his plea for extra time to surrender.
There is no ground to grant extension of time to Sajjan Kumar to surrender, the HC said, dismissing a petition.
Sajjan Kumar, 73, had sought time to file an appeal and also to settle inheritance issues within his family.
The HC, while rejecting a lower court’s orders acquitting Kumar in a 34- year-old case of killing of five members of a family in Delhi Cantonment in 1984, had found Kumar guilty of criminal conspiracy behind the killings and sentenced him to prison for the remainder of his life.
This is the first time a senior Congress functionary — a three-time former MP — was convicted for the 1984 riots.
No senior Congress man had earlier even been convicted in the riots.
Sajjan Kumar is facing another trial in the Sikh killings of Sultanpuri where the prime witness, Cham Kaur, has already identified him in the Patiala House Courts.