The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (August 12, 2026) asked the city police to respond to appeals by two convicts in the murder case of Intelligence officer Ankit Sharma, who was attacked by a mob and his body dumped in a drain during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.

A Bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Vikas Mahajan admitted the appeals by Nazim and Kasim and issued notice to the prosecution. The court also issued notice on the convicts’ plea seeking suspension of sentence of life imprisonment and listed the cases for hearing on December 2.

The counsel appearing for the two appellants submitted that a test identification parade was not conducted in their case and the testimony of the witness was not corroborated by any independent material.

The prosecution submitted that the State will also prefer an appeal against the trial court’s decision as it acquitted six accused persons.

On July 31, the trial court convicted former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain under IPC sections 302 (murder), 153A (promoting enmity), 149 (rioting), 355 (assault on criminal force and murder) read with 149, 148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 147 (punishment for rioting) in the case.

The trial court sentenced Hussain and four co-convicts to life imprisonment.

The prosecution had vehemently sought death penalty for all the five accused, saying they fell to the “level of being animals” while relentlessly assaulting Sharma.

The case pertains to an FIR registered at Dayalpur police station on the complaint of Ravinder Kumar, father of Ankit Sharma.

According to the complaint, Sharma, who was posted with the Intelligence Bureau, had returned home from office on February 25, 2020, before stepping out again.

When he did not return for a long time, his family began searching for him, only to be informed by locals that his son had been killed and his body thrown into the Khajuri Khas drain near a mosque in the Chand Bagh Pulia area.

In his complaint, Kumar alleged that his son was murdered by Hussain and others. It said they had allegedly assembled at Hussain’s office, and Ankit’s body was disposed after the murder.

Published - August 13, 2026 05:45 am IST