Rampal Saroj

Rampal Saroj (also written Ram Pal Saroj) was a local leader in Trilokpuri, East Delhi, where in November 1984 almost all the Sikh males of Blocks 32 and 36 were killed. Survivors said that he led the mobs that did it. A survivor, Jassi Bai, described him as the Congress (I) Pradhan of Block 32. He was not convicted, and he had died before the Nanavati Commission issued its notices.

What the survivors said, as the Nanavati report records it

• Sadhu Singh said that before 10 a.m. on 1 November Saroj was leading a mob that burned the gurdwara in Block 36, inciting it to kill Sikhs, with Station House Officer Tyagi of Kalyanpuri and some policemen with it.
• Sugribai and Amrit Kaur said Saroj incited the mob to kill Sikhs. Inder Singh said he pointed out the houses of Sikhs. Sadhora Singh, whose four sons, two sons-in-law and a grandson were killed, said that Saroj played a leading role in burning them, and Mukhil Bai said her son was burnt alive by Saroj, Kishori and Omi.
• Jassi Bai said that Saroj and Kanak Singh, the Congress (I) Pradhan of Block 34, told the Sikhs of their block to stay indoors and that they would see that the mobs did no harm.
• Jaya Jaitly, a Janata Party leader who visited the Farsh Bazar relief camp on the night of 3 to 4 November, said that refugees there told her Saroj had led mobs. The report notes that she saw no incident herself.

What the Nanavati Commission found. It named Saroj among the Congress leaders and workers "prominently and repeatedly named" in East Delhi, and said no notice was given to him because he had already died. For the Congress leaders and workers it had named, among them Saroj, Dr Ashok and H.K.L. Bhagat, whom it called local Congress (I) leaders, it found credible material that "very probably" they were also involved, but because they had been acquitted in criminal cases it recommended no further action. Dr Ashok replied that he had been prosecuted under FIR 426/84 of Kalyanpuri police station and acquitted. The report adds that Dr Ashok and Ram Pal Saroj were acquitted because the witnesses "did not involve them while deposing before the Court".

The allegations therefore stand as survivors' evidence and the Commission's reading of it. The sources opened give no conviction.