Delhi Court Convicts Tahir Hussain, Four Others in IB Officer Ankit Sharma Murder Case; Six Accused Acquitted
More than six years after Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma was killed during the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots, a Delhi court on Monday convicted former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain along with four other accused in the high-profile murder case. At the same time, six co-accused were acquitted after the court found the evidence against them insufficient.
The judgment was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh at Delhi's Karkardooma Court, marking one of the most significant verdicts arising from the communal violence that shook the national capital in February 2020.
The court held Hussain guilty of offences including murder, rioting, promoting enmity between different communities and using criminal force during the violence. However, it did not uphold the allegation of criminal conspiracy against him.
Apart from Hussain, Nazim, Kasim, Javed and Anas were also convicted. The court, meanwhile, acquitted six other accused after concluding that the prosecution had failed to establish their involvement beyond reasonable doubt. The quantum of sentence will be decided in separate proceedings.
According to reports from the courtroom, Tahir Hussain became emotional after the verdict was pronounced and was seen breaking down.
The prosecution case originated from a complaint filed by Ravinder Kumar, the father of Ankit Sharma, at Dayalpur Police Station. According to the complaint, Sharma had returned home from work on February 25, 2020, before stepping out again. When he failed to return, family members launched a search, only to later learn that his body had allegedly been dumped in a drain near Chand Bagh.
Investigators subsequently recovered Sharma's body from the Khajuri Khas drain. The FIR alleged that Hussain and several others were responsible for the killing during the communal unrest.
In March 2023, the trial court had framed charges against all 11 accused under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code relating to murder, rioting, promoting enmity and other offences. Hussain also faced additional charges linked to public mischief and abetment.
The murder occurred during the communal clashes that erupted in Northeast Delhi between February 23 and 26, 2020, amid protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The violence claimed 53 lives, injured hundreds of people and caused widespread destruction of homes, businesses and public property.
Monday's verdict is among the most prominent judicial outcomes connected to the 2020 Delhi riots, while several other cases arising from the violence continue to remain before various courts.
