A Delhi court on Monday convicted Tahir Hussain, former leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, in connection with the murder case of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma. Four other people – Nazim, Kazim, Javed and Anas – were also convicted in connection with the riots, along with Hussain.
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Hussain was suspended by the Aam Aadmi Party after his name surfaced in the case.
Additional Sessions Judge Pravin Singh was hearing the case against 11 accused, including Hussain, and convicted five of them. The court convicted Hussein on charges of promoting hostility, rioting, assault, criminal force and murder.
The case relates to an FIR registered at Dayalpur police station on the complaint of Ravinder Kumar, father of Ankit Sharma.
Sharma, a 26-year-old IB officer, was found dead in northeast Delhi’s Vhand Bagh area during the 2020 Delhi riots that left at least 53 people dead. The drain from where Sharma’s body was pulled is close to Hussain’s house and Sharma’s family has blamed the former AAP leader for leading the mob to kill him.
Hussain was a member of the ward number 59 of East Delhi’s Mustafaabad Assembly constituency and had won the municipal elections in 2017. He was the richest candidate in the ward with declared assets worth $16 crores in the affidavit.
Hussain initially denied any involvement in the riots or Sharma’s death, and made a Facebook post in which he said he and his family were taken away by police when protests first broke out in the area on February 24. Hussain said in the post in Hindi.
He later told police during interrogations that his mission during the riots was to collect as much bottles, petrol, acid and stones as possible during the violent riots that broke out in northeast Delhi in February 2020.
