Tahir Hussain, suspended AAP leader accused in IB staffer Ankit Sharma's murder during Delhi riots, arrested

New Delhi: Tahir Hussain, the suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor accused in the murder case of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma during the recent riots in northeast Delhi, was arrested on Thursday (March 5, 2020). He has been also accused of attempt to murder and of inciting the mob to indulge in violence and riots.

Tahir Hussain was arrested by Delhi Police Crime Branch just before he was going to surrender at the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi. He had filed an anticipatory bail petition in Delhi's Karkardooma Court in connection with an FIR in which he has been accused of killing Ankit Sharma.

Ankit Sharma was killed by a mob during the riots near his home and Hussain has been accused of directing the rioters to target the IB staffer. He has been charged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 365 (kidnapping and abduction) and 302 (murder) under which the maximum punishment is life imprisonment or death sentence.

Hussain has been named in two more cases of violence in Delhi although he has not been made accused in them. The FIRs in which Hussain has been named are registered at Dayalpur and Khajoori Khas police stations in connection with the violence in these areas.

Ankit Sharma's body was recovered by police from a drain in Chand Bagh area of Northeast Delhi on February 26. His father Ravinder Kumar had lodged a complaint naming Hussain as accused in the murder of his son following which Delhi Police filed an FIR.

Ankit Sharma's father alleged that Hussain, whose office is located near Chand Bagh Pulia area, had sheltered a large group of men who were pelting stones and petrol bombs during the violence.

At least 48 people were killed and over 200 injured, many of them seriously, in the riots which started following clashes between pro and anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters in Northest Delhi.