Delhi High Court Issues Notice on Appeals by Convicts in IB Staffer Ankit Sharma Case
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday admitted appeals filed by two convicts, Nazim and Kasim, challenging their conviction in the murder case of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma, whose body was dumped in a drain near Chand Bagh Pulia in northeast Delhi during the 2020 riots. A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan issued notice to the Delhi Police on the appeals as well as on the convicts' pleas seeking the suspension of their life sentences.
The court listed the matter for hearing on December 2. Appearing for the two appellants, their counsel submitted that the trial court's conviction cannot be sustained. The lawyer argued before the bench that a test identification parade was not conducted in the case and that the witness testimony was not corroborated by any independent material.
Advocate Rajat Nair, representing the prosecution, informed the High Court that the State will also file an appeal against the trial court's decision, citing the acquittal of six other accused persons in the matter.
On July 31, the trial court convicted former councillor Tahir Hussain under Indian Penal Code sections including 302 (murder), 153A, 149, 355 read with 149, 148, and 147. The present appellants and two others were convicted under the same charges except murder. The trial court sentenced Hussain and four co-convicts to life imprisonment, though the prosecution had sought the death penalty for all five accused.
The case originates from an FIR registered at the Dayalpur police station on a complaint by Sharma's father, Ravinder Kumar. According to the complaint, Sharma returned home from his Intelligence Bureau office on February 25, 2020, and later stepped out again. When he did not return, locals informed his family that he had been killed and his body thrown into the Khajuri Khas drain near a mosque in the Chand Bagh Pulia area, where it was subsequently recovered.
Kumar alleged in his complaint that his son was killed by Hussain and others who had assembled at Hussain's office. The violence took place during communal clashes in northeast Delhi in February 2020 amid protests against the Citizenship Act, which left 53 people dead and scores injured.
