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Former AAP leader Tahir Hussain convicted in IB officer Ankit Sharma's murder case
Delhi riots 2020: A Delhi court convicted Tahir Hussain along with four others in connection with murder case of IB officer Ankit Sharma.
A Delhi sessions court on Monday convicted former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain for the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.
Additional sessions judge Praveen Singh also convicted Hussain for promoting enmity between different religions and rioting, but did not find evidence to back charges of criminal conspiracy. Four other men, also arrested in the case, were only convicted of rioting. The court’s detailed order is awaited.
Hussain, who was present in the court, broke down as the judge pronounced the order.
According to the prosecution, Sharma, a security assistant with the IB, lived with his parents in Khajuri Khas and had left home on the evening of February 25, 2020 to buy groceries, after which he went missing.
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Sharma’s body was found in a drain near his home in the Chand Bagh area in northeast Delhi on February 26. In its charge sheet, the Delhi police said 51 “sharp and blunt” injuries were found on Sharma’s body.
Ankit Sharma's murder in Delhi riots
Clashes had broken out between supporters and opponents of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, on the evening of February 23, 2020 just below the Jafrabad metro station. The violence that continued overight blew up into four days of large-scale communal violence in the area, leaving at least 53 people dead and 581 injured.
According to the prosecution, Sharma had reached the Chand Bagh Pulia (bridge) area, where clashes were underway between two groups. He was trying to pacify the two sides when he was identified and caught hold of by a mob of at least 20 to 25, who police claimed allegedly kidnapped him, assaulted and repeatedly stabbed him before dumping his body the next day in the Khajuri Khas drain.
The autopsy concluded the cause of death was haemorrhagic shock due to multiple ante-mortem injuries caused by sharp-edged weapons.
His family, including his father and complainant Ravinder Kumar, searched for him throughout the neighbourhood amid the violence, only to be informed later by their neighbours that he had been attacked by a mob.
Tahir Hussain's conviction in the case
The case was handed over to the Crime Branch, and the first round of arrests took place, with at least five persons being identified and traced by police on the basis of video footage from the incident.
On March 11, 2020, Hussain surrendered before a Delhi court and was arrested after being named by co-accused persons. A total of 10 other persons were named by the prosecution as being part of the violent mob that murdered.
The chargesheet filed by the police on July 2, 2020, alleged that the murder was part of a larger criminal conspiracy during the riots.
Hussain, who won the Nehru Vihar municipal seat in 2017 on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket, was suspended from the party after he was accused of being one of the chief conspirators of the 2020 riots. He later joined the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and contested the 2025 Delhi assembly elections from the Mustafabad constituency, but lost.
Special public prosecutor Madhukar Pandey told the court during trial that the accused had stockpiled weapons, stones, petrol bombs and acid packets and that an elaborate witness account placed the accused at the scene of the crime.
During the trial, the prosecution examined several eyewitnesses, police officials and forensic experts to piece together the chain of events that led to the murder. CCTV footage from the incident, mobile phone records of the accused and forensic evidence of the weapons recovered were also produced by the prosecutor before the court during the trial.
On his part, Hussain, represented by advocate Rajiv Mohan, challenged the credibility of the witnesses and denied his presence or participation in the alleged murder.
