New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday (July 13) convicted former city councillor Tahir Hussain of murdering Intelligence Bureau employee Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Delhi riots.Per media reports, additional sessions judge Praveen Singh of the East Delhi district court convicted Hussain, 48, of murder, rioting, assault, criminal force and promoting enmity between groups among other charges but acquitted the former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor of criminal conspiracy and abetment of mutiny.The court also convicted four others of the same charges except murder and acquitted six individuals in the case. A detailed order is yet to be made available.According to the police, the 26-year-old Sharma had left his house on the afternoon of February 25, 2020 when a mob led and instigated by Hussain seized him and beat him to death with various weapons before dumping his body into a nala in east Delhi’s Chand Bagh.Hussain and his lawyers had said he was escorted out of his house – which was close to Sharma’s – the previous night and was not in the area on the 25th.One of his lawyers said on Monday they will appeal the district court’s decision.“We are of course disappointed … We haven’t seen the judgment yet. We haven’t perused it. I’m sure it’s a very long judgment … And we will of course be taking our chances in appeal as well,” Tara Narula told PTI.He is also an accused in the Delhi police’s widely condemned ‘larger conspiracy’ case in connection with the riots in which 53 people including Sharma were killed. Hussain had contested the 2025 assembly elections from the Mustafabad constituency as an All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen candidate but stood third, with the BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht emerging as the winner.The Hindu reported on Monday that the AAP distanced itself from Hussain in a statement, saying it had suspended him in 2020 itself and has since had no association with its former councillor.