New Delhi: The Delhi police Wednesday, October 12, said that it had arrested the main suspect in the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) employee Ankit Sharma during the Northeast Delhi riots in February 2020, according to an Indian Express report.The special cell of the Delhi police reportedly arrested Muntajim, a key accused in the case, from Telangana’s Meerpet on Monday on charges of conspiracy to kill the IB staffer. Sharma was stabbed in Northeast Delhi’s Chand Bagh which, according to his father, happened sometime after 5 pm on February 25, 2020. His body was found in a drain in the locality.Sharma was among 53 people who were killed during the riots in the national capital. In the case of his murder and the related conspiracy case in the Chand Bagh violence, the Delhi police had booked former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain and nine others under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the anti-terror legislation, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.Hussain, however, has maintained that he is innocent and the charges against him have been questioned on several occasions, both by his counsel and independent observers.Also read: Delhi Riots 2020: The Curious Case Of Tahir Hussain And Ankit SharmaOn Muntajim’s arrest, the Express report cites a police officer as saying that the authorities are in possession of recordings of phone calls in which the accused can be heard calling on people to collect at the spot and attack Sharma.The deputy commissioner of police (DCP), special cell, Pramod Singh Kushwah said that Muntajim’s role in the case was evident for a while and that the police had enough evidence to implicate him. But he had absconded, according to the IE report.The police reportedly received inputs that Muntajim has been in Telangana for six months and after a series of raids, eventually discovered that he frequented a chemist shop there. The police then laid a trap at the shop and arrested the accused.On Sharma’s murder, Kushwah told the newspaper that Muntajim had put together a mob during the riots which was looking for targets when they spotted Sharma, who they killed.
