Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Tahir Hussain was among the five men convicted by a Delhi court on Monday, in connection with the murder of an Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer during the 2020 riots in Delhi.
Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh of Delhi’s Karkardooma Court pronounced the order in connection with the murder of Ankit Sharma, who had gone missing during the riots and was later found dead.
Hussain has been charged with offences under Sections 188, 153A, 147, 148, 149, 365 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but has also been acquitted for offences under Section 120B and 129 of IPC, a LiveLaw report said.
The four others convicted alongside Hussain were identified as Nazim, Kazim, Javed and Anas—all of whom were hit with rioting charges. The other six of the 11 people originally accused in the murder case were acquitted at the time, while Hussain’s bail plea had been denied.
Hussain was a councillor from Ward number 59 under the Mustafabad assembly constituency in East Delhi, and had won the municipal polls in 2017.
At the time, he had been the richest candidate in the ward, with Rs 16 crore worth of assets declared under his affidavit.
What happened to Ankit Sharma?
On February 25, 2020, the 26-year-old IB officer never returned after going out to buy groceries.
His body was later found inside a drain near a mosque in northeast Delhi’s Chand Bagh, and was declared ‘brought dead’ by the GTB Hospital.
With the drain being close to Hussain’s house, Sharma’s family had blamed the former AAP leader of influencing a mob to kill him, with the officer’s father even registering an FIR at the time.
It was the postmortem report that had revealed 51 injuries on Sharma’s body, caused due to sharp-edged weapons and blunt force, adding weight to the foul play case at the time.
The Karkardooma Court will now issue a written order pertaining to the case on Tuesday, after which arguments on sentencing will be heard.