The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought response of police on a plea by former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain challenging his conviction and life sentence for the murder of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma during the February 2020 riots.
Justice Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan admitted the appeal and listed it for hearing on December 2 along with other connected appeals.
The court also directed jail authorities to place on record the nominal roll of the convict and called for trial court records in the case.
Hussain challenged the trial court's judgment convicting and sentencing him in the case, saying the investigation was aimed at implicating him to satisfy public anger.
According to the prosecution, on February 26, 2020, complainant Ravinder Kumar informed the Dayalpur police station officials that his son Ankit Sharma, who was posted in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), was missing since February 25, 2020.
He later learnt from some locals that a person's body was dumped in the Khajuri Khas nala from the mosque of Chand Bagh pulia after being murdered.
The prosecution alleged that Sharma's body was recovered from Khajuri Khas nala and there were 51 injuries on his body.
The trial court had on July 31 sentenced Hussain and four co-convicts Nazim, Qasim, Javed and Anas to life imprisonment for the IB officer's murder, saying the case did not fall within the "rarest of rare" category warranting death penalty.
Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and scores injured.
(With inputs from PTI)
