Delhi court denies bail to ex-councillor Tahir Hussain in IB officer murder case

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain in the murder case of IB officer Ankit Sharma and said there was enough material on record to presume that Hussain was present at the scene of crime and exhorting the rioters of a “particular community”.
“As such, he did not use his hands and fists, but rioters as ‘human weapons’, who on his instigation could have killed anybody,” additional sessions judge Vinod Yadav added.
Senior advocate K K Manan, who argued for Hussain’s bail, said his client had been in judicial custody since March 16, 2020 for a crime he did not commit. Manan claimed that police could not by way of a video or CCTV footage prove his presence at the crime scene at the relevant time. “There is no evidence of abetment or conspiracy to kill Ankit Sharma on part of the applicant,” he submitted. The lawyer added that Hussain even made calls to police to “save his skin from legal complications” in the future.
On the other hand, Sharma’s postmortem report revealed 51 injuries by sharp weapons and blunt force. Investigation in the case was subsequently transferred to Special Investigation Team of Delhi Police’s Crime Branch. Police alleged that stones, bricks, Molotov cocktails and catapults were found lying on the third floor and the rooftop of Hussain’s house.
Special public prosecutor Manoj Chaudhary argued that a “large-scale conspiracy” was hatched at various levels all over Delhi in the aftermath of enactment of Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.
He referred to Jamia violence, Shaheen Bagh protests, where “encroachment in a systematic manner” had led to complete blockade of the main road. “Later, ‘dharna sites’ came up at several locations in northeast Delhi,” he said.
According to the prosecution, riots did not take place spontaneously but were a result of a “well-planned and meticulously executed action by the anti-CAA protesters”.
The planning, it was argued, took place before the visit of the US President Donald Trump. “As one group of a particular community was aware that the police force will be busy in handling the arrangements for Trump’s visit to Ahmedabad on February 24 and 25, hence, the timing of riots just prior to the visit points to a deep-rooted conspiracy,” the prosecutor submitted.