Delhi Court Convicts Five, Including Tahir Hussain, in 2020 IB Officer Ankit Sharma Murder Case

A Delhi court on Monday convicted former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain and four others for the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots , marking a significant development in one of the most high-profile cases linked to the communal violence.

Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh of the Karkardooma Court found Tahir Hussain, Nazim, Kasim, Javed and Anas guilty under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including Section 302 (murder), Sections 147, 148 and 149 (rioting and unlawful assembly), Section 188 (disobedience to an order promulgated by a public servant), and Section 365 (abduction). The court acquitted six other accused Muntazim alias Musa, Shoaib Alam, Haseen, Sameer, Gulfam and Firoz. The quantum of the sentence will be decided after hearing arguments from both sides.

According to Delhi Police, the conviction came after the court examined 91 of the 110 prosecution witnesses cited during the trial. Investigators had filed a 648-page chargesheet in June 2020, followed by six supplementary chargesheets as the probe progressed. The detailed judgment is awaited.

The case relates to the killing of Ankit Sharma, a Security Assistant with the Intelligence Bureau , whose body was recovered from a drain in the Chand Bagh area on February 26, 2020 , a day after violence erupted during the northeast Delhi riots amid protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) . The FIR was registered at Dayalpur police station based on a complaint by Sharma's father, Ravinder Kumar, and the investigation was later handled by the Delhi Police Crime Branch, which arrested 11 accused, including Hussain.

The verdict triggered sharp political reactions. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) described the conviction as proof that those responsible for the riots were being brought to justice and renewed its attack on the AAP over Hussain's alleged role. The Aam Aadmi Party maintained that the matter was before the judiciary and said it respected the court's process while refraining from detailed comments until the full judgment and sentencing order are available.

The murder of Ankit Sharma has remained one of the most closely watched cases arising from the 2020 Delhi riots , with the court's detailed reasoning and sentencing expected to provide further clarity on the findings against the convicted accused.