The Delhi High Court on Thursday held that Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma’s murder was a manifestation of a larger conspiracy behind the Delhi riots of 2020 [Mohd Tahir Hussain v State (NCT of Delhi)]. .Justice Neena Bansal Krishna noted that former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain’s role was central to the conspiracy and his house was used as a “fort and an operational base to attack members of the Hindu community”. “He [Hussain] in a well-planned manner had shifted his family well in time. The prosecution alleges that the Applicant’s house near Chand Bagh Pulia was allegedly identified as a key protest and riot site in the larger conspiracy. It was used as a “fort” and an operational base to attack members of the Hindu community. The recovery of stones, petrol bombs, acid, and slingshots from his rooftop, and testimonies of witnesses seeing these items being pelted, directly correspond to the planned stockpiling and use of such items as part of the larger conspiracy,” the Court observed. .Justice Krishna made the observations while denying bail to Hussain for the fifth time in the case related to Sharma’s murder. Sharma was killed during the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots. His body was recovered from a drain and the Delhi Police chargesheet said he had sustained multiple stab wounds. Police investigation and the chargesheet alleged that Sharma was specifically targeted by a mob that dragged him into a house in Jaffrabad before killing him.The chargesheet named a group of accused including Hussain in connection with the murder. In March 2023, Delhi's Karkardooma Court framed murder charges against Hussain and 10 others in he case..In a detailed judgement passed today, the High Court said that the dragging of Ankit Sharma by an enraged mob, his brutal murder with 51 injuries and the subsequent disposal of his body in a drain defined the gravity of the offence. “Viewing this incident as an off-shoot of the larger conspiracy is essential to appreciate its full gravity and the prima facie role of the Applicant within it… The Applicant [Hussain] is not just alleged to be a member of the mob, but the main conspirator who instigated, facilitated and provided his own house as a base for the riots,” the Court said. Therefore, it rejected the bail plea. .[Read Judgment]
