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The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued a notice on the regular bail petition filed by Tahir Hussain, who recently joined the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) to contest the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
The petition pertains to the murder case of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma, who was killed during the 2020 North East Delhi violence. A bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta has scheduled for further arguments in the matter on January 15. Hussain's plea contends that there is a lack of credible evidence against him and seeks bail on the grounds of parity. The plea claims that the applicant is accused of being an instigator and co-conspirator. It further states that of the 20 prosecution witnesses examined so far, the majority of the alleged eyewitnesses have either not supported the prosecution's case or provided testimony that lacks credibility and cannot be considered reliable. The statements of police witnesses also contain significant contradictions and embellishments, making them untrustworthy as evidence against the applicant. The statements of the remaining public witnesses largely mirror those of the witnesses previously examined in the case, the plea added. In May, the Delhi High Court granted bail to three men involved in the killing of Intelligence Bureau official Ankit Sharma. The court emphasized that bail is the general rule during the pendency of a trial, while incarceration is an exception. It also noted that the accused had been in custody for four years, and the trial was unlikely to conclude in the near future. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed by Ankit Sharma's father in February 2020, after his son went out to buy groceries and other household items but failed to return home for several hours. Concerned for his son's safety, Sharma's father filed a missing person's report with the police. According to Delhi Police, the four accused were part of a violent mob that killed Sharma, and they were also involved in rioting and arson during the clashes. The communal violence erupted in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, when tensions between supporters of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and protesters escalated, leading to at least 53 deaths and numerous injuries. (ANI)
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