New Delhi: Former Aam Aadmi Party legislator from Rajouri Garden in West Delhi, Jarnail Singh, died of COVID-19-related complications at a super speciality hospital here on Friday morning. A former journalist, Singh had first shot to the limelight when he had hurled a show at then Union home minister P. Chidambaram in 2009, for his alleged failure to bring the perpetrators of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom to task.Later, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party. He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election as the party candidate from West Delhi, but lost. Thereafter, AAP fielded him as its MLA candidate from Rajouri Garden in 2015. Singh had taken on political heavyweight and Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa.He was so popular in the constituency that he defeated Sirsa – who was a well-known politician – by more than 10,000 votes. However, Singh resigned from his seat a year later, in 2016, to take on former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on his home turf Lambi in the 2017 assembly elections in the state.In the by-elections to the Rajouri Garden seat in 2017, AAP fared poorly and people punished the party for having abandoned the seat midway. Its candidate, Harjeet Singh, finished a distant third with only a little more than 10,000 votes and lost his deposit.Singh did not contest from AAP thereafter and was suspended from the party after an allegedly objectionable post was made on his Facebook profile in August last year.Originally a resident of Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi, Singh – who was a 1984 communal violence survivor – worked as a journalist till the time he decided to hurl a shoe at Chidambaram. He had also authored a book, I accuse: The Anti-Sikh Violence of 1984, which detailed some unknown aspects of the pogrom.Also read: 1984: Sikh Survivors of India’s Deadliest Massacre Await JusticeSingh had contracted the COVID-19 infection about a fortnight ago and was admitted at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital. His brother, Karnail, was quoted by news agency PTI as saying that he had been in the hospital for the past 12-13 days. “His High-resolution CT (HRCT) of the chest score was 14/25 which was a little above moderate in terms of infection. But then his condition deteriorated.”Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia expressed condolences at the demise of the former AAP leader.Kejriwal tweeted that Singh’s contributions to society will always be remembered. “Deeply saddened by the untimely demise of former Delhi MLA Sh Jarnail Singh ji. May God bless his soul. He will always be fondly remembered for his contributions to society.”Sisodia also recalled his quest for justice for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence. “The news about the demise of Jarnail Singh, a former colleague in Delhi Assembly is extremely sad. A voice which fought for justice for the victims of 1984 genocide has left us,” he tweeted.Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh also expressed his sorrow at Singh’s demise. “My condolences to his family and followers in their hour of grief,” he wrote in a tweet.