5 more held for IB man murder
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Saturday said that they had arrested five more people in connection with the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma, who was killed in Chand Bagh area during the north-east Delhi violence on February 25.
Suspended Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain, who is already in police custody in connection with a case of rioting, is now being interrogated to ascertain his involvement in the IB staffer’s murder, the police added.
The police had made the first breakthrough in Sharma’s murder case when they arrested a suspect, identified as Salman, from north-east Delhi on Thursday. Saturday’s arrest of five men took the number of people nabbed for Sharma’s murder to six. “All the six arrested men were directly involved in Sharma’s killing and the same has been confirmed through the evidence we have collected and statements of eyewitnesses,” said a senior police officer, associated with the special investigation teams (SITS) probing the riots cases.
The police, however, are yet to recover the weapons that were used to stab Sharma multiple times. At least four more suspects have been identified while the sketches of two unidentified suspects have also been prepared, the officer said.
The five arrested were identified as Feroz, Javed, Gulfam, Shoaib, and Anas. Except Anas, who is a resident of Mustafabad in north-east Delhi, all the other suspects lived in Chand Bagh, the area where the IB staffer was killed. Salman, who was nabbed on Thursday, is a resident of Nand Nagri. Police said they have identified the suspects through CCTV footage and information provided by eyewitness and local informers.
Sharma was allegedly stabbed multiple times and his body was found in a drain near his home in north-east Delhi’s Chand Bagh area on February 26, a day after he had gone missing after violence broke out in the area. His face and some other body parts had allegedly been burnt to conceal his identity. The IB staffer’s murder has been one of the most highlighted cases of Delhi riots, which claimed at least 53 lives within 36 hours and left more than 400 injured.
The probe so far into Sharma’s murder case has revealed that he had gone to rescue some women and girls, who were trapped in the in the neighbourhood during the violence, when he was attacked and killed, said an SIT officer.
“The eyewitness told us that Sharma went to rescue the women and girls along with some other persons from his neighbourhood. They safely rescued them and were bringing them back when stone pelting started. While others managed to escape, Sharma was hit by stones and he fell on the Chand Bagh Puliya (culvert). A mob surrounded Sharma and stabbed him multiple times before taking his body away,” the officer said.
A total of 718 cases related to the riots were registered till Saturday, while 60 people were arrested in 55 separate cases registered under the arms Act. Police have received and are studying 1,330 video footage related to the violence.
“We are investigating the cases from all angles and the police personnel are analysing the footage. Around 150 weapons have also been recovered which were used during the violence,” another senior police officer said.