&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Utmost brutality’: Ex-AAP leader Tahir Hussain, 4 others get life term for Ankit Sharma’s murder")
A Delhi court on Friday sentenced former Aaam Aadmi party leader Tahir Hussain and four other convicts to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Delhi riots.
The court termed the crime as one of “utmost brutality”, committed solely on religious grounds, and said the barbarity displayed was “nauseating and sickening”.
Sharma was murdered in the Dayal Pur area of Northeast Delhi during the riots in February 2020.
The Karkardooma court awarded life imprisonment to Tahir Hussain, Nazim, Qasim, Javed and Anas, all of whom were convicted earlier this month for murder, criminal conspiracy, and other serious offences.
‘Utmost brutality, done solely on the ground of religion’
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While awarding the sentence, the court made strong observations, describing the crime as an act of “extreme brutality”. “The manner in which the crime was committed, it was of utmost brutality, done solely on the ground of religion,” the court said.
Delhi’s Karkardooma court commented on the gruesome killing and said, “Ankit Sharma’s body was dragged like that of an animal” and added that the barbarity inflicted upon him was “nauseating and sickening”.
Former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and the other accused were convicted for their involvement in the murder of Ankit Sharma, whose body was found in a drain amid the communal violence that swept northeast Delhi in February 2020.
According to the chargesheet, Sharma was attempting to calm tensions between two groups near Hussain’s residence at around 5 pm on February 25 when he was allegedly encircled by a mob.
BJP targets AAP after Tahir Hussain’s sentencing
Reacting to the verdict, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was linked to the 2020 Delhi riots.
Bhandari wrote on X, “Tahir Hussain gets life imprisonment for murder of IB Officer Ankit Sharma! AAP is a party of rioters! AAP was behind Anti-Hindu Delhi riots 2020!”
Delhi Law Minister Kapil Mishra welcomed the court’s decision and called it the beginning of justice in the case.
In a post on X, he said, “Tahir Hussain’s life imprisonment sentence is the beginning of justice. The cruelty with which Ankit Sharma ji was killed, stabbed with knives even after death, the body thrown into a drain – this is certainly the rarest of rare. It is hoped that in the High Court, this life imprisonment will be converted to the death penalty.”
Reacting after the sentencing, Hussain said he would challenge the verdict before the Delhi High Court. “We will appeal in the High Court. We will get justice for sure,” he told reporters outside the court.
