NEW DELHI: More than six years after the 2020 northeast Delhi riots rocked the capital, a special court recorded the first murder conviction in the violence, holding then Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain guilty of killing Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma.Additional sessions judge Parveen Kumar Singh, presiding over a specially designated court in Karkardooma complex to hear murder-related charges in the riots, found Hussain guilty under various sections, including murder, kidnapping, promoting enmity, rioting and unlawful assembly while armed with a deadly weapon, and disobedience of a public servant’s order.
In a verdict running over 300 pages, the court relied primarily upon oral testimony and eyewitness evidence to establish Hussain’s guilt. It, however, acquitted him of the charge of conspiracy.‘Damaged, turned away cams indicate conspiracy’While recording that the fact CCTV cameras were damaged or turned away at the scene of crime showed a “conspiracy was afoot”, the court said the prosecution failed to prove it.A conviction under Section 302 IPC carries a maximum punishment of death and a minimum sentence of life imprisonment. A detailed judgment is awaited. Special public prosecutor Madhukar Pandey appeared for the prosecution, while senior advocate Rajiv Mohan represented Hussain.The court also convicted co-accused Nazim, Kasim, Javed and Anas under the same sections, while acquitting them of the criminal conspiracy charge. Six other accused — Haseen alias Mullaji alias Salman, Firoz, Gulfam, Shoaib Alam alias Bobby, Sameer Khan and Mumtaze alias Musha — were acquitted of all charges.Sharma was among 53 people who died in the communal violence that engulfed northeast Delhi in Feb 2020. The prosecution said Sharma was attacked by a mob in Chand Bagh on Feb 25, 2020, and his body was dumped in a drain. The postmortem recorded 51 sharp and blunt force injuries.The FIR was registered on Feb 26, 2020, on a complaint by Sharma’s father, who alleged that rioters operating from Hussain’s building had murdered his son and dumped his body in the Khajuri Khas drain. The prosecution also relied on the testimony of a witness who allegedly recorded a mobile phone video showing a group of people dumping Sharma’s body in the drain. Police alleged the murder was part of a “deep-rooted conspiracy” and claimed Sharma, an IB staffer familiar with the locality, was specifically targeted.Hussain is also an accused in the larger conspiracy case related to the riots under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and in an Enforcement Directorate money laundering case. The special cell has alleged that the terrace of his building was used by rioters to hurl stones and petrol bombs. Hussain, who represented Ward No. 59 under the Mustafabad assembly constituency, won the 2017 municipal election and had declared assets worth Rs 16 crore in his election affidavit.
