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The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to grant bail to former municipal councillor Tahir Hussain in connection with the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
Justice Neena Bansal upheld the trial court's earlier rejection of Hussain's bail plea. During the earlier hearing, Special Public Prosecutor Rajat Nair and advocate Dhruv Pande, appearing for the Delhi Police, told the court that Hussain played a direct role in Sharma's killing. They alleged that Hussain, along with others, dragged Ankit Sharma from the crowd, stabbed him 51 times, and dumped his body in a drain near Khajuri Khas. Sharma, according to the prosecution, had been trying to calm tensions during the riots. The prosecution further argued that several eyewitnesses had identified Hussain at the scene, inciting the mob with provocative slogans. Given his significant local influence, they warned that granting bail could result in intimidation of witnesses and tampering with evidence. On March 24, 2023, trial court framed murder charges against Hussain and ten others for the killing of Ankit Sharma. The charges arose from the communal violence that erupted in northeast Delhi in February 2020, which left over 50 people dead. Sharma's body was recovered from a drain in Khajuri Khas with 51 stab wounds. Hussain, who has spent more than five years in custody, sought bail on the ground that the trial is progressing slowly despite the court's efforts to expedite proceedings. His plea argued that he was being falsely implicated and that the trial court erred in rejecting his bail application on March 12, 2025. The defence contended that out of five public witnesses, three exonerated Hussain, while the testimonies of two others were contradictory. It also claimed that police witnesses had made "major improvements" in their accounts and that the complainant himself had failed to identify the complaint on which the FIR was based. (ANI)
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