Congress leader Sajjan Kumar has written to party president Rahul Gandhi submitting his resignation from the primary membership of the party, sources in the party said on Tuesday.

"I tender my resignation with immediate effect from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress in the wake of the judgement of the hon'be high court of Delhi against me," he said in the letter to Gandhi.

On Monday, the Delhi High Court convicted Kumar for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and sentenced him to imprisonment for life.

Truth will prevail and justice will be done, said the court, while delivering the verdict. The court has asked Kumar not to leave the city and surrender by December 31.

Earlier, a trial court had acquitted Kumar. However, the trail court had held former Congress councilor Balwan Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and two others guilty in the case relating to the murder of five members of a family in Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment on November 1, 1984 after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The court had awarded life term to Khokhar, Bhagmal and Lal, and a three-year jail term to two others - former MLA Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar.

The convicts had challenged their conviction and sentencing by the trial court in May 2013. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had also filed an appeal, alleging they were engaged in "a planned communal riot" and "religious cleansing".

The agency and the victims had appealed against the acquittal of Kumar.

First Published:Dec 18, 2018 11:41 AM IST