2020 Delhi riots: Ex-AAP councillor Tahir Hussain among five convicted for IB staffer’s murder

A Delhi court on Monday convicted former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain and four others for the murder of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 riots in the national capital, The Indian Express reported.

The others who were convicted are Javed, Anas, Nazim and Kasim. Six persons were acquitted in the matter.

Sharma was killed by a mob during the violence and his body had been dumped in a drain.

The Karkardooma court convicted Hussain for murder, rioting, disobedience to an order promulgated by a public servant, promoting enmity between groups, rioting armed with a deadly weapon, unlawful assembly, and kidnapping or abducting with intent to secretly and wrongfully confine a person, Bar and Bench reported.

However, it cleared him of a criminal conspiracy charge.

The court said that the evidence before it showed that Hussain played the role of an instigator to kill Hindus and exhorted the mob to “not spare Hindus”, Bar and Bench reported.

The first information report in the matter had been filed by Sharma’s father.

In February 2020, communal violence broke out in North East Delhi between supporters of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it. The violence had left 53 dead and hundreds injured. Most of those killed were Muslims.

Edited by Anamika Pathak.
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