The Delhi Police told the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that it will be filing an appeal against the acquittal of six accused in the murder case of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 North-East Delhi riots.

The statement was made by Delhi Police Special Counsel Rajat Nair before a division bench comprising Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Vikas Mahajan.

“The State will be preferring an appeal against the 6 accused who have been acquitted,” he said.

The submission was made during hearing of appeals preferred by two men, Nazim and Kasim, challenging their conviction and life sentence awarded by the trial court in the case.

The Bench issued notice on the appeals and called for the trial court records.

It also issued notice on the applications seeking suspension of their sentence and ordered that their nominal roll be requisitioned from the jail concerned.

The matter is now listed for December 02, for consideration of the suspension of sentence.

For context, on July 13, the trial court had convicted former AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain, Javed, Anas, Nazim and Kasim.

However, the judge had acquitted Haseen, Sameer Khan, Firoz, Gulfam, Shoaib Alam and Muntajim.

The matter pertains to FIR 65 of 2020 registered at Dayalpur police station.

The FIR was registered on the basis of the complaint made by the deceased's father. He had lodged a missing report when his son went missing during the riots. Ankit's body was later recovered from a drain. He was declared as brought dead by GTB hospital.

The complainant's son Ankit Sharma, an Officer working with the Intelligence Bureau, left his house at around 5 pmon the said date for buying groceries and general household items. However, he did not return home even after several hours.

Later, his dead body was found lying in a drain near Chand Bagh Pulia. He had sustained sharp injuries on his head, face, chest, back and on his waist.

Thereafter, an FIR was registered by the complainant stating that he had strong suspicion that his son was killed by the main accused Tahir Hussain and his associates.

The post-mortem report of the deceased Ankit Sharma revealed that there were 51 injuries caused due to sharp edged weapons and blunt force.

Title: Javed v. State & Other Connected Matter