An absconding accused in the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) official Ankit Sharma during 2020 Delhi riots, has been arrested from Telangana by the Delhi Police’s Special Cell, an official said on Wednesday

DCP, Special Cell, Pramod Kushwaha said that the accused, identified as Munjtajim alias Musa Qureshi, 34, had been absconding since then and a reward of Rs 50,000 had been announced on his head.

“Our Inspectors Praveen Duggal, Rakesh Rana and Surender Sharma, under the supervision of ACP Lalit Mohan Negi, had been working on the Delhi riot accused who had been absconding. Acting on a tip-off, Qureshi was finally nabbed from Gayatri Nagar, Meerpet in Telangana.”

“We received a tip-off that the accused was hiding in Telangana and used to visit a particular chemist shop. A team was sent over there, a trap was laid and he (Qureshi) was caught. He was involved in a kidnapping-cum-rape case. In jail, he met one Mujib and started working with him after coming out of the jail,” the DCP said.

The police added that Qureshi, along with his friends, took part in anti-CAA protests and took part in the riots where they killed Sharma.

The Delhi riots took place in February 2020 when the then US President Donald Trump was on a visit to New Delhi, following clashes between pro- and anti-CAA protesters.

During the riots on February 25, Sharma was brutally murdered in the Chand Bagh area when he stepped out of his house to try and calm the violence being orchestrated by now-suspended AAP councilor Tahir Hussain from his house.

The rioters had thrown his body into a drain and it was recovered the next day. A case was lodged by the police at Dayal Pur police station. Initially, it was reported that the deceased IB official’s autopsy report found 400 stab wounds, although the chargesheet filed in June 2020 said Ankit had 51 sharp and blunt injuries on the body. But one thing is clear – Ankit was murdered in the most brutal manner possible and his body was then dumped in a drain like garbage.

According to the Delhi Police chargesheet, 10 persons, including Tahir Hussain and his younger brother were arrested in this case. Names of other arrested accused we have gleaned from media reports (here, here) are – Riyasat, Shahnawaz, Salman alias Momin/Hasin/Nanhe/Mulla, Nazim, Qasim and Sameer. Tahir Hussain’s brother Shah Alam was granted bail in Dec 2020 within 8 months of his arrest by Delhi ASJ Vinod Yadav as ‘other co-accused have also been released on bail’.

Qureshi, who was involved in the murder, had fled from the area and was later declared a proclaimed offender by the court. Police then declared a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head. But now that he has been arrested after hard work of Delhi Police, how long before he gets bail is the million rupee question.

It is not known as yet whether any political or religious outfit was sheltering Qureshi in Meerpet, part of a satellite city adjacent to Hyderabad. The notorious Islamist political outfit AIMIM, headed by the Hindu-hate mongering Owaisi family which has ties to the Razakar militia that committed genocide on Hindus during the Nizam era, which currently rules Telangana in alliance with TRS (now BRS) has its stronghold in Hyderabad.

(With IANS inputs)