Suspended AAP councillor sent to police custody in IB staffer murder case

Suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain was sent to four-day police custody on Monday in connection with the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB)

Suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain was sent to four-day police custody on Monday in connection with the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma during the communal violence in north-east Delhi last month.

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Passing the order, chief metropolitan magistrate Pawan Singh Rajawat said Hussain’s custodial interrogation was required to unearth a “larger conspiracy” in the riots that led to massive loss of lives and property and identify other persons involved in the murder of Sharma.

Hussain was booked for his alleged role in Sharma’s murder during the communal riots in the city last month amid protests against the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act. He was earlier arrested on March 5 and sent to police custody in another case related to rioting in north-east Delhi.

During the hearing, police told the court that Hussain needed to be confronted with other co-accused and “unearth larger conspiracy” in the case. “Everything was done on his (Hussain) command,” police claimed.

Three men, identified as Rahees Khan, Mohammad Feroz, and Chand Mohammad, were arrested on charges of rioting and arson in a case which also mentioned the murder of a man named Shahid, a resident of Mustafabad. In another case, wherein four men were killed at Tahirpur Puliya (culvert) on February 25, police arrested a man, identified as Prince, in connection with the murder of one of the four men.

On Monday, the city court dismissed the bail application of Khan after the police informed it that his custodial interrogation was required to unearth the conspiracy behind the riots and establish the sequence of events leading to Shahid’s murder.

“Shahid’s body with a bullet injury in his head was found in a building in Chand Bagh area. Some video footage related to the building show him pelting stones from it. Who shot him dead and what circumstances is being probed. The case was registered at the Dayalpur police station,” said a police officer, associated with the SIT.

A total of 53 people have lost their lives while more than 400 were injured in the worst communal riots the city has witnessed in the last three decades.