AAP councillor Tahir Hussain charged with murder in IB employee death case

Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain on Thursday was charged with murder in connection with the death of Intelligence Bureau (IB) employee, Ankit Sharma, whose body was recovered from Delhi's Chand Bagh amid violence in the area over the Citizenship Amendment Act. Hussain has been booked under section 302 IPC (Punishment for murder) at Dayalpur police station.

Sharma's family accused Hussain of being behind the death. The councillor, however, has denied the allegations as "baseless" and called for an impartial probe.

Earlier in the day, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that any person found guilty of inciting violence in the national capital should be given stringent punishment, irrespective of the party they belong to. Kejriwal also said that the punishment should be doubled if the accused is from his party.

Replying to a question on Hussain's alleged involvement in the violence, he said, "Police is not under me or I would have. Be it people from AAP, BJP or Congress, those who fanned the communal fire, those who orchestrated riots, should all be punished even if it is someone from my cabinet."

Meanwhile, the Delhi police has been granted more time to file an FIR against BJP leaders — Kapil Mishra, MPs Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Sahib Singh and MLA Abhay Verma — and others for making provocative statements leading to multiple riots and mob attacks in north-east Delhi over the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The Delhi High Court today granted the Centre and the Delhi police four weeks time to file a response to a plea seeking registration of FIRs against the BJP leaders.

(Inputs and image from theindianexpress.com)