A Delhi court on Friday sentenced former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) official Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Delhi riots.
<figure class="art
Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh also awarded life imprisonment to four other convicts in the case.
Also read |Tahir Hussain, armed mob dragged and murdered IB officer Ankit Sharma: Delhi court
While pronouncing the sentence, the court orally observed that the victim was killed by “a murderous mob baying for blood”. However, it said the prosecution had failed to establish that the convicts were beyond reform or that their continued imprisonment for life was necessary because they would remain a threat to society.
Case background
According to the prosecution, Ankit was allegedly killed in the vicinity of his home in Khajuri Khas on February 25, 2020, after he ran into clashes taking place between two groups in the Chand Bagh Pulia (bridge) area. As he attempted to pacify both sides, he was allegedly kidnapped, assaulted, and stabbed many times by a mob of 20-25 people. His body was recovered the next day from a drain in the area.
Reacting to the conviction, chief minister Rekha Gupta earlier said the AAP should explain its “political association with” and “patronage of” a person found guilty of “instigating the Delhi riots, murder and widespread violence.”
Speaking at a press conference, she said, “Arvind Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh and Manish Sisodia must explain when the people of Delhi will receive answers on the entire episode.”
She said the verdict marked an important step towards justice for the families affected by the violence, adding, “those responsible for the riots should be punished in accordance with the law.”
Separately, in a post on X, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya described Hussain as a “close associate” of Kejriwal.
In response, on X, Kejriwal said, “We expelled him from AAP long long back. Didn’t he join one of the chanda chor party’s sister organization?”
Hussain, who was elected as an AAP councillor from northeast Delhi in 2017, had been suspended by the party following his arrest in connection with multiple cases arising from the 2020 riots.
