Delhi riots case 2020: Tahir Hussain, 4 others get life term for IB officer Ankit Sharma's murder

A Delhi court on Friday sentenced former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and four other convicts to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau official Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.

The Karkardooma court had convicted Hussain and the four co-accused in the case earlier this month. Delhi Police had sought the death penalty for the accused, arguing that the killing amounted to a "rarest of rare" case.

The prosecution had contended that Hussain, a public servant at the time, had a duty to protect Sharma. Special public prosecutor Madhukar Pandey had argued that the killing was premeditated and calculated.


Also read: Delhi Police seeks death penalty for Tahir Hussain, four others in Ankit Sharma murder case

Hussain's lawyer, Rajiv Mohan, had sought leniency for his client, arguing that the death penalty could not be imposed in every murder case and that mitigating circumstances needed to be considered. He had submitted that Hussain had no specific role in the killing and that the prosecution failed to establish conspiracy.

Ankit Sharma was killed during the communal riots that broke out in Northeast Delhi in February 2020, one of the deadliest bouts of communal violence the capital has seen in decades.