SIT visits Chandigarh to record statements of victim’s wife, son

Kanpur: The members of the Special Investigation team (SIT) probing the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 In Kanpur reached Chandigarh on Sunday and recorded the statements of a family whose family member was killed in Armapur area.

The SIT members met deceased Mohan Singh’s wife Arvinder Kaur and son Harendra Singh at their residence in Chandigarh on Sunday.

Arvinder Kaur told SIT that her husband and his two colleagues were murdered on November 1, 1984 when she and her son were at their Kidwai Nagar residence.

Some other friends of her husband had informed her about the murder of her husband and his two friends. Later, she migrated to Punjab along with her son, said sub inspector Suraj Pratap Singh of SIT.

The SIT sources further informed that the members had also visited Ludhiana on Thursday and recorded the statements of the family of another victim.

“We had visited Ludhiana and recorded the statements of two families. One Tajinder Kaur narrated to the SIT team the ordeals she and her family members had faced 36 years ago,” said an SIT member.

“Her husband was shot during the anti-Sikh riots in Kanpur,” he added.

At least 127 people were killed in separate pockets of Kanpur on October 31, 1984 in the aftermath of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

The state government had constituted a four-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the circumstances that led to riots in Kanpur. As per SIT sources, so far five witnesses have recorded their statements.

The SIT members who are in Punjab to record the statements include sub inspectors Suraj Pratap Singh, Punit Kumar and Sunil Kanaujia.