NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the city police to respond to a bail request made by former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain. He is seeking regular bail in a case related to the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
Justice Neena Bansal Krishna issued a notice to the police and directed them to file a status report within three weeks. The court will hear the matter again in July.
The plea, filed through advocate Tara Narula, said that Hussain has already spent over five years in custody. It argued that, despite the trial court’s efforts to speed up the proceedings, the case is unlikely to conclude soon.It also challenged the trial court’s decision from March 12, which rejected Hussain’s bail application.
The plea maintained that there is no solid evidence linking him to the crime. “The accusation against the applicant is merely that of an instigator,” the plea said. “Out of five supposed public witnesses, three have clearly stated that they did not see the applicant at the scene when the incident took place.”
It further claimed that the two other witnesses, described as ‘chance witnesses’, gave statements that contradict each other and are full of changes and inconsistencies. The plea argued that these statements are unreliable.
The defence also questioned the credibility of the police witnesses, saying their testimonies contain serious contradictions. It added that the complainant, Ankit Sharma’s father, had not confirmed the complaint on which the FIR was based, raising doubts about the police’s version of events.
According to the prosecution, Sharma was last seen on February 25, 2020. His father, Ravinder Kumar, reported him missing the next day at Dayalpur police station. Later, local residents told him that someone had been killed and dumped into the Khajuri Khas drain near the Chand Bagh pulia mosque.