A Delhi Court on Friday (July 31, 2026) sentenced former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Councillor Tahir Hussain and four others to life imprisonment in the murder case of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 riots. The Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh of the Karkardooma court had earlier this month convicted Hussain and four others - Javed, Anas, Nazim, and Kasim - in the crime. Hussain was found guilty of murder, kidnapping with intent to confine, rioting with deadly weapons, unlawful assembly, and promoting enmity between different groups, among other serious charges.
However, he was acquitted of charges of hatching a criminal conspiracy and abetment of mutiny. The court also convicted Javed, Anas, Nazim, and Kasim for the crime, while acquitting six other accused persons who had been facing trial in the case. The Delhi police had sought the death penalty for Hussain, submitting that the ‘cold-blooded’ killing, marked by 51 injuries on the victim’s body, qualified as a ‘rarest of rare’ case warranting capital punishment.
The case stems from an FIR registered at the Dayalpur police station on a complaint filed by the deceased’s father, Ravinder Kumar. In his complaint, Mr. Kumar said that his son had returned home from work on February 25, 2020 but stepped out again on some work. When he failed to return, the family launched a search, and was later informed that he had been killed.
His body was subsequently recovered from a drain near a mosque in the Chand Bagh Pulia area. The post-mortem examination recorded 51 ante-mortem injuries caused by sharp-edged weapons and blunt force trauma. Mr. Kumar accused Hussain and others for the crime.
On March 24, 2023 the trial court framed charges against the accused.
