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New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday, July 13, convicted former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain and four others for the sensational killing of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.

Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh was hearing the case against a total of 11 accused, including Hussain, and convicted five of them.

The court found Tahir Hussain guilty under the charges of promoting enmity, rioting, assault, criminal force and murder.

The case pertains to an FIR registered at Dayalpur police station on the complaint of Ravinder Kumar, father of Ankit Sharma.

According to him, Ankit Sharma, who was posted with the Intelligence Bureau, had returned home from office on February 25, 2020, before stepping out again.

When he did not return for a long time, his family began searching for him, only to be informed by locals that his son had been killed and his body thrown into the Khajuri Khas drain near a mosque in the Chand Bagh pulia area.

Sharma’s body was subsequently recovered from the drain.

In his complaint, Ravinder Kumar alleged that his son was murdered by the then AAP councillor Hussain and others. It said they had allegedly assembled at Hussain’s office, and Ankit’s body was disposed of after the murder.

Hussain was suspended by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after his name came up in the case.

On March 24, 2023, a Delhi court framed charges against Hussain and 10 others.

The other accused include Haseen alias Mullaji alias Salman, Nazim, Kasim, Sameer Khan, Anas, Firoz, Javed, Gulfam, Shoaib Alam alias Bobby and Muntajim alias Musa.

The accused were charged under Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to rioting, rioting armed with deadly weapons, promoting enmity between groups, murder and criminal conspiracy.

Hussain was additionally charged with abetment and statements conducing to public mischief.

The incident occurred during the communal violence that erupted in northeast Delhi in February 2020 during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

The clashes, marked by incidents of stone-pelting, arson and vandalism, had left 53 people dead and scores of others injured.