Veteran Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, facing trial in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, today told a Delhi court that only three out of the 17 witnesses named him as allegedly having instigated the mob.

Continuing his final arguments in the case before District Judge J R Aryan, Kumar's counsel I U Khan said the investigating officer (IO) had "specifically" asked several witnesses about the former MP's presence in Delhi Cantonment area, where the incident took place, but they had denied it.

"Out of 17, only 3 witnesses took Kumar's name that they had seen him in the area during the riots or heard him giving the alleged speech. The IO had specifically asked six witnesses about Kumar's presence, but they had denied seeing him," he said.

The counsel also contended that the CBI had conducted an "unfair investigation" in the case in which five Sikhs were killed in the area during the riots that broke out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.