Chronology of events in IB officer Ankit Sharma murder case

New Delhi: Following is the chronology of events in the 2020 IB officer Ankit Sharma murder case, in which a Delhi court on Friday sentenced former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and four co-convicts to life imprisonment, saying that the case did not fall within the "rarest of rare" category warranting the death penalty.

- February 2020: Communal violence erupts in northeast Delhi during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, leaving 53 people dead and several others injured.

- February 25, 2020: Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma goes missing after stepping out of his home in northeast Delhi during riots.


- February 26, 2020: Sharma's body is recovered from the Khajuri Khas drain near the Chand Bagh pulia area. His father, Ravinder Kumar, lodges an FIR at Dayalpur police station, accusing former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and others of his son's murder.

- June 3, 2020: Delhi Police Crime Branch files a charge sheet in the Karkardooma court against ten persons, including Tahir Hussain, now suspended from the party. The accused are charged with kidnapping, murder and rioting in the Chand Bagh area on February 25.

- August 21, 2020: Delhi court takes cognisance of the charge sheet.

- March 24, 2023: Delhi court frames charges against Tahir Hussain and 10 other accused under various IPC provisions, including murder, rioting, promoting enmity and criminal conspiracy.

- July 13, 2026: Delhi court convicts Tahir Hussain and four others in the murder case. Hussain is convicted of murder but acquitted of criminal conspiracy and abetment charges. Six co-accused are acquitted.

- July 27, 2026: Delhi court heard arguments on sentence against all the convicts and reserved its order on quantum of sentence for July 31. The prosecution sought death penalty for all the convicts.

- July 31, 2026: Delhi court awarded life imprisonment to Tahir Hussain and four co-convicts in the murder case.