The Karkardooma Court in Delhi on Monday reserved its order for July 31 on the quantum of sentence against former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and four others convicted for the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Delhi riots.
Hearing the arguments on the quantum of sentence against the five convicts, Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh reserved the order for Friday.
The court directed the jail authorities concerned to submit a report on the conduct of the convicts by Thursday.
During the hearing, the Delhi Police sought death sentence for all five convicts, saying “they fell to the level of animals” while relentlessly assaulting the victim.
Special public prosecutor Madhukar Pandey submitted that Sharma was abducted, assaulted relentlessly and killed by the convicts. They kept torturing him even after he died, Pandey said.
On July 13, nearly six years after the incident, the court convicted Tahir Hussain Javed, Anas, Nazim and Kasim.
Tahir was convicted for commission of offences punishable under Sections 302 (murder), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) read with 149, 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 153A (promoting enmity) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) read with 149 (rioting) of the IPC.
On the charge of criminal conspiracy, the court said while the damaged and diverted CCTV cameras in the area suggested that “a conspiracy might have been afoot”, the prosecution failed to establish when, where and how such a conspiracy was hatched or who its conspirators were.
The court also convicted Nazim, Kasim, Javed and Anas for the same offences. It noted that they were among those who surrounded and dragged IB officer Sharma towards Chand Bagh Pulia before he was fatally assaulted, making them vicariously liable for murder and other offences under Section 149 of the IPC.
The court, however, acquitted Haseen, alias Mullaji, alias Salman, Firoz, Gulfam, Soyab, Sameer Khan and Muntajim, alias Musa, in the case. The others who have been convicted are Nazim, Qasim, Javed and Anas.